A Jedi's Destiny: Episode I: Rise of the Sith
by Jedi472
Summary: When Littlefoot and the gang meet a teen-turned- Jedi, they are unknowingly thrust into an epic struggle in a galaxy far, far, away... It's over, finally. Learn from my mistakes, and enjoy the adolescent writing!
1. Opening crawl

I want to explain something I might be doing with this story before you read it. You know how in movie scenes, background music plays? Well, I'm gonna try to do it with Fanfics. Whenever I put an underlined song title and author in the middle of the story, that'll be when the music starts. It's designed to give the story more of a cinematic feel, though it'll probably just confuse everyone.

Star Wars is copyrighted by Lucasfilm Ltd., and the Land Before Time is owned by Universal Pictures. I own nothing but my original characters. I'm only going to say this once.

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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away...

**Star Wars **

**The Land Before Time: A Jedi's Destiny**

**Episode I: Rise of the Sith**

_It is a time of peace and prosperity for the New Republic. Luke Skywalker is restoring the ancient order of the Jedi, Leia Organa and Han Solo are married, and the Sith have been become all but extinct. The Empire is a shell of its former glory, and the dawn of a new age approaches. But all is not as it seems._

_Unbeknownst to the Republic, in the far corners of Imperial Remnant space, the Empire is busy on a project that will pave the way for their new rise to power, and the restoration of the ancient Sith order. Once their plans are complete, they will subjugate the galaxy like never before, destroying all those who are between them and complete domination._

_Meanwhile, on an unnamed planet in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy, the boundaries between worlds have collapsed, and a boy from another world and his newfound friends must face the trials of a Jedi, and defend their home from a dangerous galaxy. Now, the Empire is preparing for a strike against the formerly unknown planet, which may hold the key to bringing peace to the galaxy-or conquering it. Heroes and villains new and old will be called to fight, and one man may be the difference between saving the galaxy, or thrusting it into darkness..._

The Star Destroyer _Broadsword _hung ominously over the barren, blackened Outer Rim planet that was Thalen V, its mile-long, wedge-shaped form looking like a blade ready to strike an enemy at a moment's notice. The Imperial battleship slowly orbited the seemingly lifeless world, its glowing blue ion engines propelling it at a recommended cruising pace through the vacuum. The aging, retrofitted warship was a testament to a bygone era, when the Galactic Empire had governed countless worlds, with nothing to oppose its tyrannical rule. Now, however, the Galactic Empire occupied only a small section of its former territory, and the Rebel Alliance that had dared to fight against it now governed under the banner of the New Republic.

The Empire, though it had made peace with the Rebels it had fought for so long, had suffered even after the peace accords had been signed. Wealthy governors and Moffs, dissatisfied with the Empire's surrender, had taken portions of the Imperial fleet loyal to them and had created their own dominions, where they were free to continue their own small campaigns against the New Republic. While the _Broadsword _was the flagship of the largest fleet that had deserted the Empire, the fleet was only about fifty Star Destroyers strong, and even with its numerous support vessels and considerable amount of worlds under its control, the remnant of the Imperial Remnant still had no hope of holding its own against the powerful fleets of the New Republic. At least, not until now.

A tri-winged _Lambda_-class shuttle dropped from the _Broadsword's _forward docking bay, unfolding its wings and assuming its traditional upside-down Y shape before engaging its engines and rocketing down towards the surface of the planet. Cruising through the dark, cloudy atmosphere and over the spires and mountains of black rock that made up the landscape, the shuttle arrived at its destination within a matter of minutes. The hidden castle, which had been built into one of the taller basalt spires, served as both a palace for the leader of the band of Imperials and as a research facility, although only the latter function had brought the Imperial leader back to the spire.

The shuttle folded its wings back to their vertical position as it neared the spire's topmost landing platform, using its thrusters to slow its momentum. The craft set down gently using its landing gear, its stark white hull contrasting with the black stone of the spire. The boarding ramp was lowered, and steam ejected from the pneumatic pistons that were responsible for its motion, shrouding a short, dark-haired, mustached man wearing a stiff-looking gray uniform and his two white-armored stormtrooper bodyguards as they stepped onto the landing platform. A diminutive human wearing a sterile-looking white labcoat hurried out toward them, looking excited as he rushed to greet his commander.

"Moff Thalus!" the man saluted quickly before saying zealously, "You've arrived with perfect timing! We're about to initialize the subject's synaptic pathways!"

The Moff allowed a small grin to form on his face as he replied, "Excellent! With your work, we may finally be able to oppose the New Republic with enough force to collapse their feeble government!" He gestured to the door on the other side of the platform leading into the spire. "Show me to him!"

"Yes sir!" the young scientist said, leading the Moff inside, his excitement even more visible than before.

The turbolift ride, which took them down to one of the lowest floors in the palace, was short, especially considering just how far down it really was. When the lift door slid open, Thalus stepped into a relatively small laboratory. Although the lighting was dim at best, Thalus could see two other scientists tapping away at the controls of computer diagnostic stations, all of which were arrayed around a huge, cylindrical tank in the center of the room. Thalus stepped forward, his eyes locked onto the mysterious-looking tank. Apart from being filled with water, the tank also contained a single occupant: a bald, chalk-skinned man, wearing only a cloth to maintain decency, floated in the water, a breathing apparatus clamped onto his face.

"Sir," one of the scientists addressed him. "the clone has gained partial consciousness. His synaptic pathways are stable and active."

"Is it him?" Thalus asked, his eyes fixed on the strong-looking, tall man in the tank. "Is the man we seek inside that body?"

"Yes sir." the scientist assured him confidently. "His synaptic patterns match the original's. It's him alright." An indicator light flashed on the scientist's console, and the man tapped a few controls before crying out excitedly, "Sir, he's regaining full consciousness!"

"Ready the ysalimir!" Thalus barked, watching in amazement as the man in the tank blearily blinked, trying to awaken. One of the scientists rushed over to a crate that had been shoved in the corner of the lab. As he gingerly hauled it closer to the tank, Thalus could see the furry, lizard-like creature inside through the transparisteel, its claws clamped onto a branch of an Olbio tree. Thalus personally disliked the look of the creature, but knew its Force-negating powers were an extreme asset, especially in the current situation.

The man's eyes were now fully open, and, though he was still heavily drugged, he glanced around the room wildly, utterly perplexed at his whereabouts. "Can he hear me?" Thalus asked the scientist. When the man nodded, Thalus stepped to the front of the man's view and addressed his in a calm but commanding voice.

"I know this is very disconcerting, but you will soon understand. I am Moff Thalus of the Galactic Empire, and you are in a laboratory in my palace on the planet Thalen V. I know you cannot feel the Force at the moment, because of this creature," He indicated the crate. "which can negate the Force within a short radius. I did not mean to alarm you, and it was merely a precaution. I realize your last memories were of dying aboard a space station called the Star Forge, and it is true. Four thousand years ago, you did indeed perish aboard the Star Forge during a Republic assault against the Sith." Thalus paused to let the words sink in, but when the man only gave him a bewildered look in response, he decided to explain himself more thoroughly.

"The Galactic Empire I stand for used to control the galaxy, and at its head were two Sith Lords, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. Now, however, the forces united to restore the Republic, including the Jedi, have driven us back to the corners of the galaxy, and we are on the verge of destruction. That is, unless you help us."

"We sought out a savior, someone who could lead the Empire back to its former glory, but none alive could meet that goal. So we decided to turn to the dead. We searched through the records on the deserted world of Korriban, and we finally found a medical record of a complete genetic sample of a Sith Lord in the ruins. That Sith Lord was you." Thalus gestured to himself as he continued. "I do not wish to control you, Dark Lord. I merely wish to help you, so that you in return might help me. I have given you new life, and now all I ask is that you lead the Empire and destroy the Jedi, restoring the balance the Sith bring to the galaxy."

Thalus took one step towards the Sith, speaking invitingly, "Will you accept my offer?" The room was silent for several seconds, and the man in the tank took on a thoughtful expression as he considered the offer. Finally, after nearly twenty seconds, the man nodded slowly back at Thalus, who grinned and told one of the scientists to get the man out of the tank and debriefed immediately, then send him up to the Star Destroyer. As he made his way back towards the turbolift, he looked back at the man and called out with a grin, "Welcome back to the land of the living, Darth Malak."


	2. The rift

The bullets spanged off the wall behind him, one ricocheting and shattering a nearby computer screen. Lucky for him, the American guards had been slow to draw their pistols, and one out of the original three had already gone down by the time the shots were fired. He merely had to shift his aim slightly to the left twice, briefly halting his handgun's barrel on the soldiers' form before pulling the trigger and sending a round through each man's head. The lab was small and cramped, with analytic computers and testing devices lining the walls. Only a workstation placed in the middle of the room had stood between the teenager, who had been dressed in a stolen American Marines uniform, and the three standard army soldiers. The only other person who had been in the room, a scientist who donned a white lab coat that looked immensely clichéd, was currently cowering behind the table, trying to avoid becoming the unknown assassin's next victim.

The boy, who looked no more than sixteen, stepped over to the scientist's trembling form, casually keeping his aim on the man as he leaned over and began typing commands into an adjacent computer. The scientist finally managed the nerve to speak and asked in a shaky voice, "Who are you? What are you doing?". He instantly regretted asking the questions, recognizing that the teenager holding the gun probably wasn't going to tell him. He did, however, answer the man.

"No one you need to know, Head of U.S. Army Research and Development Richard P. Andrews." the teenager said, smirking slightly to himself as he rhythmically tapped the keys, sifting through the data on the screen, all the while keeping a steady aim on the scientist. "Yes," he continued, stopping to reach into his pocket. "I know who you are, and I've been observing your progress on Project Prometheus. That's why I'm here." He pulled out a small, unassuming flash drive, the same kind used by regular businessmen to store profit projections and sales figures, and slipped it into the USB port.

"What?" the scientist blurted out, both surprised and afraid at the knowledge the boy possessed. "How could you possibly know-"

"I have my ways." the teenager cut him off, tapping the enter key and waiting as a loading bar appeared on screen, filling itself quickly with green pixels. "And I also know how the United States paid a generous sum to Andryd Technologies to get a hold of the schematics you've been trying to bring to life. It's for an antimatter reactor, right?" The boy shook his head, chuckling to himself. "What a dangerous piece of technology. Much too dangerous for any one world power." The progress bar disappeared and suddenly the light and analysis equipment started flashing on and off, everything electronic immediately going haywire. "Alright, I've deleted this base's entire database, including those schematic files. Nothing on the entire premises that's controlled by a computer will operate. Now if you'll excuse me," he said, slipping out the door just as the lights flicked off. "I've got to get out of here before I'm shot."

He sprinted down the hallway, out towards the fire exit. The lab had conveniently been placed near the back of the facility, right next to a fire exit. Normally the teenager wouldn't have used a fire exit, mostly because of the alarm that came with it, but since the fire alarms were also controlled by computer, it provided a convenient means of escape. He slipped out the door and found himself just to the left and behind the base's aircraft hangar, the afternoon sun already dipping towards the horizon. He could already tell that his program had done it's job, with American soldiers and officers all running around to each other, trying to figure out exactly what the hell was going on.

He dashed quickly over to the back wall of the hangar, hoping he wasn't spotted in the seven seconds it took him to reach his destination. Once he was safely concealed by the building, he ran towards his planned escape route, a forested area right behind a layer of tall, barbed-wire fencing. Normally security cameras would have alerted the base security of anyone who got remotely close to the wall, but they too were rendered nonfunctional. The teen delved into his pocket as he approached, his gun still clutched in his right hand. Using a pair of simple wire clippers, he was able to quickly chop a decent hole in the fencing, allowing him to slip to the other side and make his escape.

He ran as fast as he could as he dashed through the brush, knowing that they'd find the evidence he left behind soon enough. During the run he ditched the wire cutters as well as the Marines uniform, revealing a simple white T-shirt and jeans underneath. After a few minutes he began to run out of breath, and slowed to a brisk walk as he continued towards his destination.

It was several hours before he emerged from the forest, finding himself on the side of a rural road, with a gas station just to his right, the rest of the landscape dotted with fields and patches of forest. Night had fallen, making the gas station the only visible landmark around. He grinned as he neared his safe haven, making his way up to the driveway, back to the small parking lot, and back to his car, an innocuous Ford Fusion. "Why doesn't he ever let me rent a cool car?" he muttered to himself as he approached. Fishing the key out from his jeans pocket, he wasted no time in jumping into the car, starting it up, and tearing away from the station as fast as he could, only breathing a sigh of relief as he pulled onto the nearby highway. "Well," he said to himself quietly. "that wasn't so bad."

The drive to Milwaukee International airport was mostly uneventful, with only one near miss when a brand-new Mustang came flying off an exit ramp, nearly sideswiping the teen's car. "What the hell, man?" the boy yelled, as though the other driver might hear him. "Frickin' idiot." he mumbled as the car slowly pulled out of sight.

The teen wasted no time parking the car at the nearby Enterprise, not bothering to run inside to alert any clerks about their vehicle's status. Rather, he simply left the keys on the dash, figuring they'd find it soon enough. Grabbing the one small suitcase he'd brought with him, he quickly stuffed his handgun inside before heading towards the main building, growling, "If those X-rays see this thing..." most of the way there.

He opted against using a manned counter to buy a ticket, instead choosing an automated terminal with a touchscreen, as he figured it would be faster. He was proven wrong, however, as the machine had taken nearly ten minutes to purchase a ticket to London, and on top of everything else said his name rather loudly as he left, drawing more attention than the boy would have liked. "Happy travels, Markus Silverman." the machine called, it's speech program struggling with his name's syllables.

Markus practically held his breath as he went through security, quietly thanking God when the X-ray missed his handgun, the frame of which was coated in an X-ray absorbing chemical. Still, Markus didn't even think about relaxing until he had finally boarded the plane. He stretched out his legs in his first class seat, quietly mulling over the cost of the accommodations before thinking to himself, _Hey, the professor won't mind. And if he does, who cares? After all, I'm the one doing his dirty work._ And with that, he leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes, and promptly fell asleep to the roar of the jet taking off into the air.

By the time the plane had landed Markus had manged to catch nearly seven hours of sleep, and the newly reenergized teen headed for the terminal the moment the boarding ramp connected. A quick trip through customs and he was on the London streets, heading directly towards his destination. Markus had always enjoyed the look of the city's streets. They seemed worn yet strong, old yet capable, weathering each day like the tens of thousands that had come before it.

It wasn't long before he arrived at his destination. The seven story building was dark, as it had always been, with only a pewter-colored plaque that read " Andryd Technologies" giving the place any identity. Markus entered through a door in the nearby alleyway, since the professor didn't want anyone seen entering through the front door, for fear that someone would realize what he was doing. The creation of "forbidden technologies", as the professor's work was often called, was closely monitored by the nations that did business with him, and none of his clients wanted the public to know of such things.

Markus made his way up the dimly-lit stairwell, stopping at the fourth floor. He walked down the untouched, white-tile hallway to the second door on the left. He opened the door to a modest room, with a bed on one side and a desk on the other. A small dresser stood up against the wall near the bed, and a door in the back of the room led to a small bathroom with a shower cubicle.

Markus tossed the suitcase on bed, preferring not to set it on the already-cluttered desktop. Markus stepped over and sifted through the pile on the desk, stacking together books, videogames, movies, trying to make some room for his computer's monitor and keyboard. Markus smirked, his expression almost sad as he beheld a full bottle labelled "Corona". "Can't let this go to waste." he murmured, grabbing the bottle and using the corner of the desk to pry off the cap. The teen took a quick swig, relishing the slight burn of the bitter, flavor-filled beer as it slid down his throat. He sighed, allowing himself a small grin as he set the beer down to return to his task, picking up a paperback entitled, Star Wars: Darth Bane: The Rule Of Two. "I've got to finish this thing." Markus had always had an affinity for stories of any kind, but Star Wars seemed to speak to him the most. He enjoyed its clean concept of good versus evil, even if it wasn't realistic, and enjoyed the idea of other worlds beyond his own. He'd started his obsession as a child, but it had been toned down a bit ever since...

He set it back down as his eyes settled on another object, this time near the corner of his room. A black and white Flying V guitar leaned against the wall, an amp sitting dutifully beside it. He kept his small grin as he recognized a symbol of one of his other hobbies: music. He had grown up listening to bands like AC/DC and the Beatles, and as a kid he'd always dreamed of being a rock star. Even now, he still practiced as much as his occupation would allow. He grabbed a small pick from his desk and picked up the instrument. He tweaked the strings, readying it before he began playing. He'd begun playing only at age nine, but before that he'd been practicing his vocals. He'd only decided to try both after a long thought process that basically ended with, "Why not?". Granted, he knew he'd probably never play for an audience, but still...

He turned the amp up to a low volume setting before getting into a stance. He sighed deepily before beginning to nod his head to an unseen beat. On the ninth beat he began to play, and the grinding, metallic notes from the electric guitar burst forth from the amp. His fingers nimbly climbed up and down the neck of the guitar, clamping down on the necessary strings as his other hand plucked out the notes. The music was heavy, descending, jumping and then descending again as the notes flowed out, their growling cries ringing through the air. Markus repeated the sequence twice before he cried out the first lyrics, "Back in Black! I hit the-"

On the word 'hit', his hand slipped, and he wound up playing a completely different series of notes than he'd intended. Sighing, he set the instrument back down before heading back to the bathroom, muttering, "I should've known I wouldn't have been able to play a full song after that long..."

After a quick shower and a change of clothes, though he was still wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans, Markus walked back to the stairwell and up to the seventh floor. A sliding door greeted him, opening to reveal a darkened lab much like the one he'd visited just a day ago. Even in the dim conditions Markus could see the professor seated at his desk, beside which a huge, altar-like device stood. Two curved, metallic arms reached up to form a circle about seven feet in diameter. Markus noted the device with a slight sense of awe before turning his attention to the professor.

"Well, I finished your little errand." he began, allowing frustration and anger to seep into his voice. "I nearly got killed, of course, but what's that to you? Still, the Americans probably don't know what hit 'em, so they probably won't come back here." He continued, not noticing that the professor failed to respond. "That leaves, what, a dozen more countries I have to hit in order to undo your damage? Maybe you should've thought about the world's balance of power _before _you sell dangerous technologies to the whole damn planet! And now you're making me do the dirty work! You know, when my dad's will said you'd get custody of me, I guarantee this isn't what he had in mind!"

Markus noticed the professor still wasn't responding. He just sat there, turned away in his chair. Markus' rage increased as he stepped over to the professor, turning his chair toward him and yelling, "Hey, I 'm talking to you! What- Holy shit!" Markus backpedaled fast as he beheld the professor's dead body, a bullet hole freshly bored into his skull. A line of dried blood trickled down his face and onto his lab coat. Markus realized the professor had actually committed suicide only after noticing his cold hand still clutched around a small revolver. Markus stood there, completely dumbfounded and unable to move for a few seconds. When he regained control of himself, he uttered a single, bewildered phrase. "Well, what the hell?"

He then spotted a single handwritten note on the professor's desk, the words crammed onto a single sheet of lined paper. Still shocked, Markus read the hastily scribbled words:

_I can no longer ignore and live with the evils I have committed. Rationalization cannot change what I have done. Selling these devices to those whom I knew would use them for their own gain, taking you in only to use you to further my own business endeavors...forcing you to kill in order to rectify my own mistakes..._

_But no longer. If you have found this note, you have no doubt discovered my body. I know this cannot possibly atone for what I have done, but still...Even with my death, however, my failure will still continue. Once the nations of the world realize that I am dead, and therefore can no longer provide them with the technological advances they crave, they will converge on this building and take anything they can get their hands on, including you. I realize that, even if you leave, they will not stop until they capture you, until they squeeze every last piece of information you contain. That is why my final invention is dedicated to your escape._

_You may notice the rather large construct to the left of my desk. While it would take far too long to explain exactly what it does or how it works, it can be summarized as a generator of subspace tears, rifts in space and time. There is only one control, a red button on my desk wired directly to the machine. Now I must ask you to trust me, no matter how difficult or impossible this may sound._

_When a rift is generated, I want you to walk into it._

_Please, listen to me. I want you to do this quickly, for three reasons. The rift can only be opened for a short time and it cannot generate another, the control also arms a one-minute timer for a bomb that, when the timer reaches zero, will cause the entire building to implode, and this may be the only real way you can hope to escape being imprisoned...or worse. Please, I'm begging you. Leave now, destroy this place. Find a new life, a better life, for yourself. You deserve it._

Markus looked up from the letter, dumbfounded at the sheer insanity of the whole proposal. The problems were obvious. Could he even survive going through a rift in the very fabric of the universe? The professor seemed to think he could, but even if he did survive, where would he end up? Could he even survive wherever this rift decided to dump him off? Still, the idea of being imprisoned or possibly tortured and killed at the hands of some government didn't appeal to him, either.

"Okay," he muttered to himself, trying to collect his thoughts. "you can do this. Just press the red button, jump into this rift thing, and just go with it." He briefly wondered if he should take anything with him, then decided against it. "Besides," he continued, stepping toward the ominous red button on the desk. "who's to say I'm not gonna die before I have a chance to do anything?" He smirked a little at his own grim humor before raising his hand over the button and slapping it down.

The generator suddenly sprang to life. A white light flashed into existence and immediately filled the diameter of the circular gateway. Markus' eyes widened in shock as he felt a slight suction coming from the device as air began entering the rift. His body was frozen in terror at the incredible sight, but something, perhaps the mentioned instability of the rift or the fact that a bomb was about to go off, urged him forward. He closed his eyes and charged forward, yelling at the top of his lungs in sheer terror as he plunged into the white light, leaving his world, and everything he knew, behind.

Markus didn't know what to expect when he entered the rift. Still, it did come as a complete surprise when he suddenly landed on his face. Crying out at gravity's sudden direction change, it took a moment for him to realize that not only was he still alive, he could breath and that he had hit something cold and smooth...something metal.

Markus picked himself up, shaking his head to remove his feeling of dizziness. "That was weird." he mumbled to himself, referring to the sudden change in gravity. When he managed to concentrate on his surroundings, however, his mind was completely blown. He was in a hallway, with the ceiling, floor and walls composed entirely of a grayish metal. Behind him, the hallway branched out to a larger room, but in front of him the hallway only continued for a few feet, up to a small, lit-up room. The area seemed to hum and vibrate slightly, and Markus reasoned they were probably the effects of some sort of appliance. Before he could even utter a "What the hell?", however, the entire hallway shook, as if something had impacted whatever he was in. Markus was thrown against the wall, and, despite being shocked at his improbable situation, ran up to the smaller room, hoping to find some answers as to where exactly he was.

The small lit-up room turned out to be a cockpit, with four control stations arranged in a square pattern. Each station featured rows of computer displays and controls, the sheer number of them threatening to overload Markus' senses. A large rectangular window stretched from the front of the squarish cockpit and tapered off at the sides, allowing good visibility of the surround area. Despite the complete confusion Markus was feeling, he couldn't help but notice that the room seemed strangely familiar. All of his wonderings were smashed when he looked out the window. Markus now knew he was in some sort of aerial vehicle, moving at a reasonably high speed. He could see a greenish landscape outside, and he would have stopped to admire it were it not headed straight at it, the ground rushing up to hit the plummeting craft.

Markus said nothing as he jumped into the left-front seat, didn't even cry out as he tried to utilize the complicated controls which, if only Markus had slowed down enough to notice, were labeled in English. The ground came closer and closer, and just as Markus pulled up what looked like a control stick, the craft dipped low enough that tree branches began impacting against it, snapping off under the craft's weight and velocity. The craft skimmed over the tree line, with Markus frantically trying to find some way to stop the machine. He managed to jab a switch labeled "landing cycle" just as the tree line gave way to a small clearing.

The craft suddenly dipped and settled into the clearing, setting down with a thud. Then, before Markus even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief, a feeling of extreme fatigue came over him, and he fell into unconsciousness, his body going limp in the seat.


	3. The dream

As he walked into the darkness, Littlefoot wondered why he had gone to such an evil-looking place. Just a minute ago he was in his nest with his grandparents, falling into a peaceful sleep. Now he was walking through a dark, ominous forest against his will, as if drawn by some primal instinct. Even throughout all his adventures, he had never come upon a situation as inexplicable as this one.

Littlefoot was a young longneck dinosaur, more properly known as Brontosaurus. He had been born in a time when his and many other herds had not reached the Great Valley, the lush, beautiful place he now lived in with his grandparents. Along the long road to the Great Valley, he suffered a terrible tragedy at the death of his mother, who was killed by a Sharptooth, a carnivorous breed of dinosaur. Separated from his herd, Littlefoot wandered his way toward the Great Valley, all the while remembering the words of his mother. Along the way, he met four other dinosaur children who had also become separated from their herds. They were Cera the Threehorn, Petrie the Flyer, Ducky the Swimmer, and Spike the Spiketail. Braving many dangers and ultimately defeating the dreaded Sharptooth, they finally found the Great Valley. Even though their first adventure had been a few years and many adventures ago, they still remained the best of friends.

_This is just too weird!_ he thought as he meandered to the middle of the woods, a small shiver traveling up his spine as he beheld the moonless sky and dead trees all around him. _Why, of all places, would I go here? _The question echoed through his mind as he ventured deeper and deeper into the darkness.

He finally was allowed control of his own body when he reached a small clearing, where only short grasses grew. His first instinct was to run, to escape whatever horrible place his body had made him go, but before he could escape, two sharp-clawed raptors sprang out of the brush in front of him, filling his veins with terror.

"Ah! Sharptooth!" he cried out instinctively as he tried to run the other way. His attempt was in vain, however, as another pair of raptors came at him from behind. As they closed in for the kill, another figure appeared suddenly at his side. Littlefoot was startled to look at an outline of a figure who stood on its hind legs, its forelegs looking a lot like his friend Ducky's, except they were longer and the hands were proportionally smaller.

Littlefoot squinted, trying to see more of this strange newcomer, but his efforts were in vain, as it seemed that the figure truly was just an outline, its entire form covered in blackness. A host of questions suddenly enter the young longneck's mind. _What is that? How'd it get here? Why is it here? _The questions bounced around the young dinosaur's head. _It's not attacking me...maybe it's here to help me! _ The excitement at the possibility of the figure saving him died almost as soon as he'd realized that there wasn't much the unknown creature could do.

If it was here to help him, Littlefoot doubted it could take on all of the raptors. After all, the figure was only about his size, and he could do nothing against the predators. But, as he soon learned, this one was not as defenseless as Littlefoot. The young longneck nearly yelped in surprise when a loud _snap-hiss _sounded, followed by a glowing, blue blade that seemed to spring out of the figure's hand. Littlefoot stared at the mysteriously conjured bar of light, hypnotized by its bright glow and its soft, deep thrum.

The blade's sudden appearance had also managed to startle the predators, as well, and one particularly bold raptor charged headlong at the figure, disregarding the blade it now held. The others followed suit, and Littlefoot watched in horror as the figure just stood there, as if oblivious to the imminent onslaught. Then, just as the sharpteeth closed to within an arm's reach, the figure struck, swinging the humming blue blade in a large arc, managing to catch the two in front of him and the two behind him in the same sweep. The blade hissed and sparked as it cut effortlessly through the sharpteeth, and Littlefoot could smell the distinct scent of burning flesh. Their bodies tumbled to the ground, collapsing around the shadowy figure, who had returned to his motionless state.

Littlefoot stared in awe at the mysterious being, and was about to call out to it when the figure suddenly dissolved into a plume of smoke along with the bodies of the predators. "Huh?" Littlefoot was now throughly confused, and could only watch in bewilderment as the smoke began to rearrange itself into a much larger shape. At this Littlefoot became afraid, and began to back away from the entity when a calming, female voice called out to him, stopping him in his tracks.

"Littlefoot..." the voice called soothingly. "Littlefoot..." The young longneck felt his jaw drop even further as the plume finished rearranging itself, it's new shape taking on the features of an adult longneck, it's huge form towering over Littlefoot's. This would have been extraordinary enough, but as he heard the longneck's voice and watched the details of the apparition become clearer, he realized he actually _knew _this dinosaur!

"Mother?" Littlefoot called out, uncertain if it really was her. Even so, the possibility that his dead mother was appearing before him was enough to make the young longneck hopeful. The apparition smiled warmly down at the boy and replied,

"Yes, Littlefoot, it's me." At this Littlefoot suddenly dashed forward, joyfully running over to embrace the one he had lost so long ago. The voice suddenly called out sharply, "Littlefoot, wait!" The young longneck barely had time to skid to a stop in front of his mother.

"Mother, what-" Littlefoot started, confused and even a little hurt at his mother's words. His mother smiled at him and craned her head down to speak to him at eye level.

"Littlefoot, I am only here in spirit." she told him. "It's not time for us to be together again yet." When Littlefoot lowered his head in sadness she added, "Don't be sad, my son. I'm always with you, remember?"

The young longneck looked up at smiled at her words, but then took on a confused expression and asked, "But Mother, if you're not here to stay with me, then-"

"Then why am I here?" his mother finished with a good-natured laugh. "It's true, I can only appear to you for a short time, so listen closely." Her next words took on a serious tone as she continued. "What you just saw was a vision into the near future. Do you remember the figure with the blade of light?"

Littlefoot nodded up at his mother. "Yes mother, but what does he have to do with all this?"

"He has everything to do with this." his mother replied. "That being is your world's only hope. Without him, well..." his mother trailed off before finishing. "there will be dire consequences." Littlefoot felt fear creep through him at his mother's words, and he asked timidly,

"What kind of consequences?"

As soon as the words left his lips he found himself in a fiery, hellish landscape. Looking around at the lifeless ground and the burning flames, he could barely recognize the wasteland before him was the Great Valley. The raging fire and charred earth horrified the young longneck enough, but the sight of the burning bodies of some of the inhabitants, his grandparents among them, were too much for Littlefoot to bear.

"NOOOO!!!" he cried out, shutting his eyes tight, willing with all his might that the terrible vision would disappear. He only opened his eyes when his mother's soothing voice returned to him.

"I regret that I had to show you such horrors, my son," she apologized. "but if the being I showed you does not fight against the forces of evil, then your world will be lost forever." The longneck's tone became more encouraging as she continued. "That being will need your help, Littlefoot. Without you, he may never have a chance to oppose the dark menace that will befall this planet. You must work together to unlock each other's powers, or else this planet will merely be the first in a wave of destruction and conquest that will sweep through the very stars."

Littlefoot could barely comprehend what his mother was telling him. Desperately searching for answers, he asked her, "But how will I find him? What if I fail?"

His mother smiled once more at him as a sudden white glow surrounded her form. "When he arrives, you will know. And you won't fail. I know you'll be strong...my son." The white light eclipsed her form, its sheer brightness threatening to overload Littlefoot's vision.

"Mother, wait!" he cried out desperately, just as the light spread to fill the entire area. "Don't go!" His vision was eclipsed by the light, forcing him to shut his eyes just as an elderly male voice said,

"Littlefoot? Littlefoot, are you alright?"

Littlefoot lurched awake at the sound of the voice, jumping up in fear only to see his grandparents staring down at him, their worried faces high above due to their great height.

"Grandma? Grandpa? Where am I?" he asked them wearily, still dazed from his vision. He shook his head to try and clear a momentary bout of dizziness as he pulled himself to a standing position.

"Why, in the nest of course." his grandfather told him, a concerned tone entering his voice as the huge longneck craned his head down to see his grandson at eye level. "Is something the matter Littlefoot?" he asked, perplexed at his grandson's frightened expression when he awoke.

Littlefoot sighed in relief, replying reassuringly, "It's nothing, Grandpa. I just had a scary sleep story, that's all."

"You must have. You were tossing and turning like something was chasing you!" his grandmother added, wondering what her grandson was dreaming about."Are you sure you're alright, dear?" she asked once more, just to make sure the young longneck was certain.

Just then, a familiar voice rang out across the Valley."Littlefoot!" his friend Cera called, searching for him. "Littlefoot!"

"That's Cera." Littlefoot smiled at the thought of his friends, and looked back up at his grandfather and asked with a hopeful look, "Can I go play Grandpa?"

"Yes, just be back in time for breakfast." his grandfather said, grinning at the boy's enthusiasm. Littlefoot dashed out from his grandfather's side, racing eagerly across the meadows to the patch of trees where he knew his friends were waiting for him. The elderly longneck shook his head wistfully as his mate stepped to his side. "Sometimes I wonder about that boy." Grandma Longneck laughed, tenderly nuzzling her husband and replying,

"Littlefoot is only going through what every young one goes through at his age. It's all part of growing up. Now," she pulled her mate gently in the direction of a gently flowing stream. "let's get some breakfast."

Littlefoot reached the Tall Trees after a minute or so, and found his friends awaiting him. "Hi Littlefoot!" Ducky and Petrie called simultaneously as he approached, smiling and waving.

"Hi guys!" he replied back. Spike nodded at him in greeting and continued eating as he always did, munching leaves off a nearby bush.

"Where have you been?" Cera asked him in an annoyed tone, not bothering to greet Littlefoot and wondering why he was late for the group's usual gathering.

"Sorry." Littlefoot apologized, though he wasn't sure he liked how Cera didn't even say hi before grilling him with a demanding question. Still, Cera was a threehorn, and he knew he probably should've expected it from her. "I guess I slept in. I was having such a weird sleep story..." He trailed off, uncertain if he should even bring his dream up.

"About what?" Ducky prodded, interested in her friend's dream.

Encouraged by Ducky's interest, Littlefoot continued. "Well, I was in the Dark Forest, and it was as if I was drawn by something, like a force was making me walk deeper inside. I found myself in a clearing, and these smaller, sharp-toed sharpteeth suddenly jumped out and closed in on me. Just when I thought I was dead, he appeared and killed them."

"Who?" asked Cera, who was rather irritated that the first conversation of the day had to be about dreams, something she put no stock in whatsoever.

"I don't know." Littlefoot answered, trying to remember the rest of his dream. "He was just an shadow. He walked on two legs and had arms and hands like Ducky. He used this glowing blue stick to kill the sharpteeth."

"What happen after that?" Petrie pressed, perplexed by the story but still wanting to hear the rest.

"Then he and the raptors turned into smoke, and the next thing I knew, the smoke had turned into my mother!" Noticing the baffled looks on his friends' faces, Littlefoot quickly continued, trying to go into detail but finding it hard to describe what he had seen. He also left out the part about the destruction of the Great Valley, as he didn't want to scare anyone into a panic.

" 'You must work together to unlock each other's powers'? What's that supposed to mean?" Cera wondered aloud after Littlefoot had finished, the story and the words not making any sense to her.

"Who do you think he is?" Ducky turned to Littlefoot, still intrigued by the shadowy being Littlefoot had described.

"I don't know that, either. The only thing she told me was that he was our world's only hope." he replied, the words not making much sense to him either, yet they certainly sounded important enough.

"Maybe if she's right, we will see him someday."Ducky said, hopeful to see this mysterious and intriguing creature Littlefoot spoke of.

"Ha! I doubt it!" Cera snorted, rolling her eyes at what she considered to be nonsense. "It was just a sleep story; I bet it doesn't mean anything!"

"Maybe. I wonder if I'll find him in the real Dark Forest." the young longneck mused to himself, ignoring Cera's comment. "Maybe I should go check it out sometime..."

"I would not if I were you, no, no, no." Ducky reminded him worriedly, using her traditional catchphrase."There are sharpteeth in there!"

"But maybe it'll help me find whoever was in my sleep story!" Littlefoot protested, knowing that Ducky had a point but still feeling the urge to find the being his mother had told him of. He knew something was going to happen, and the only way to find out was going into the Dark Forest. He was sure of it.

Littlefoot heard his name being called, cutting off further talk of the dream, and strode casually back to his grandparents for breakfast. As he ate, Littlefoot watched two flyers swoop around the valley, marveling at their diving speed. His observation was interrupted by his grandmother's voice.

"So Littlefoot," his grandmother inquired, "what were you dreaming about last night?" Littlefoot glanced down at the ground before looking back at his grandmother. He hadn't really considered telling his grandparents about the dream just yet.

"Well," he started. "I was in the Dark forest, and I found myself in a clearing, and sharpteeth suddenly surrounded me."

"Really? That sounds awful!" his grandmother said, cringing at the very idea. His grandfather had been listening also, and joined in as his interest was piqued.

"What happened next, Littlefoot?" his grandfather pressed, intrigued at his grandson's story.

"Then this figure suddenly appeared, but-" Littlefoot was cut off in mid-sentence as everyone in the Valley looked up and gasped at what looked like a blue whirlpool appeared in the sky, flashing and swirling like a hurricane on the ocean.

_This must be what my mother was talking about!_ The young longneck realized as he watched, captivated along with every other Valley resident as they stared up at the strange phenomenon. Suddenly, a huge object hurtled out of the vortex, collapsing it in the process. Although it was moving fast, Littlefoot could make out the red stripes adorning the object's otherwise gray coloration. The object, semicircular in shape, was about the size of one of the boulders his grandparents and the other Valley residents liked to use for sealing off entrances to the Valley. Littlefoot could even make out two circles on the back of the object that glowed like the sun, which seemingly allowed the thing to fly.

The object immediately began losing altitude, heading for the trees at an alarming rate. Just as Littlefoot thought it would hit the ground, however, the thing managed to level out, scraping the tops of the trees as it began to slow. It suddenly drastically reduced its speed directly over a clearing, where it turned almost 180 degrees before disappearing beneath the treeline, hiding itself in the clearing.

The clearing in the Dark forest. The exact same one, if the young longneck's suspicions were correct, as in his dream.

_Now I'll definitely have to check that out,_ Littlefoot thought as he watched it disappeared under the treeline, hiding itself in amongst the dead trees of the Dark Forest.

"Wow...what was that, Grandpa?" he asked, breaking the stunned silence that had fallen over the Valley.

"I don't know, Littlefoot," his grandfather replied breathlessly, eyes fixed on where the vortex had been, unable to even guess at what the inexplicable thing might have been. "I don't know."


	4. Meetings

When Markus awoke, he tensed up at the sight of his strange surroundings, then remembered what happened and sat still in what he knew was the pilot's chair, mentally going over what had just happened. His mind was a maelstrom of confusion, every question whirling around in his head. What was this place? How long had he been out? And how the hell did he manage to land whatever craft he was in?

_It felt like a impulse,_ he thought as he sat, still absorbing the recent events, _like the knowledge was given to me at that moment. But how? Why? I mean, I took that pilot's course a year ago, but that still doesn't explain much. _

Then there was the question of where, or perhaps even when he was. The device he had used could have taken him anywhere, inside or outside the known universe. He could be in another dimension, an alternate universe, in the past, the future, anywhere, and there was no way of truly knowing. Still, he was alive, and for that he was grateful, although he had no way back to his own universe and had no idea where he was or what he was doing. Even so, he set to work answering his first of many questions, _W__hat the hell is going on here?_

He decided that while he had no way back, he should probably find out everything he can about this place for further study, as he figured that something might prove useful in surviving here. After looking out the cockpit viewport and seeing only darkness, he started to press keys and buttons randomly, clueless to what would happen. _When in doubt,_ he thought to himself, using one of his usual phrases, _screw around 'till something happens._ Suddenly, images appeared on the screen. After a moment he recognized that the images were icons, part of a visual data navigation program, with links leading to different databases. He decided to visit the section labeled help , hoping it would answer some of his questions. When a question box appeared on the screen, he typed:

_Identify current location._

The computer answered in a bland female voice, slightly startling him. "You are an occupant of the Ebon Hawk, a Dynamic-class light transport. Built approximately 3,968 years before the Battle of Yavin by Core Galaxy Systems." Markus blinked in surprise at the answer. The craft was a starship, and on top of that it was straight out of Star Wars! Then, another thought entered his mind.

_Great,_ he thought cynically, _I get an awesome ship and it's 4,000 years old. _Markus knew from his uncountable hours pursuing Star Wars paraphernalia in his spare time that the Ebon Hawk, form the Knights of the Old Republic series of games, was a Corellian transport ship that, after falling into the hands of many owners during the peace between the First and Second Sith wars between 4000 years BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin in Episode IV) and 3,950 BBY, eventually became the property of Revan, a former Sith Lord captured and mentally reprogrammed by the Jedi to fight his apprentice, Darth Malak, who had taken the mantle of Sith Lord and usurped control of Revan's armies. Revan, along with his motley crew of Jedi, soldiers, and smugglers, had used the starship to travel around the galaxy in search of the Star Forge, the mythical factory station that had been built by the ancient Rakatan species. The station was responsible for the massive Sith buildup, and could produce infinite amounts of warships and battle droids.

Revan and his crew finally managed to defeat Darth Malak, and the Sith quickly dissipated. Shortly after the battle, however, Revan mysteriously took off for the Unknown Regions of the galaxy, claiming he had foreseen a threat to the entire galaxy. The ship reappeared five years later and was used by a former general of Revan's, known only as the Jedi Exile, to defeat a Sith nihilist cult. The ship once again disappeared when she went to search for Revan, shortly after that particular Sith cult was defeated by her. No trace of the ship was ever found after that. Until now, that is.

_Oh well, its got to be better than what I'm used to. _"List specifications." he said, still very interested in his newly acquired piece of futuristic technology.

"Hyperspace top speed is 1.0, sublight speed is 89 megalights per hour. Weapons include-"

"Wait, hold on a second. During Knights of the Old Republic you couldn't go 1.0. Was this thing modified?" Markus asked, already forming a hypothesis in his mind. Somehow, subspace must've modernized the design of the vessel to the current era, which was probably around the Galactic Civil War period, maybe even further forward in Star Wars history.

"Approximately seven hours, six minutes ago." the computer responded. Markus blinked in realization.

"When did we enter normal space?" he pressed, seeing his hypothesis become fact. _If I'm right..._

"Seven hours, six minutes ago." it confirmed in its bland voice.

_The rift must've affected the ship. _he thought to himself, his mind already forming hypothesis after hypothesis as to exactly how, each one sounding more and more like a Star Trek plot device. _Hell, maybe the rift even created it._ He thought of another possibility, one that was too intriguing to ignore. "Did the subspace rift affect me?" he asked, checking that he was still himself. _You can't be too careful when dealing with this level of weirdness._ Markus, from hours and hours of watching Star Trek with his father during his childhood, knew space and its numerous phenomenon were weird and ridiculously unpredictable, and you never could tell what would happen.

"Internal sensors are currently offline due to secondary systems damage. Continue with specifications data?" the computer responded, oblivious to his excitement.

"Yeah, sure." Markus replied as he leaned back in the chair, his imagination still pondering other surprises his change in fortune might hold.

"Weapons include two forward facing fire-linked Taim & Bak AS-7 laser cannons, two Borstel RV-5 dual turbolaser turrets mounted dorsally and ventrally, respectively, and two Arakyd MX7 concussion missile launchers, each with a magazine of four missiles each. Shields include particle and ray shields developed by Novaladex and Konseyar."

"Damn!" Markus smiled when the computer finished, astounded at the firepower and speed. Even if he was stranded here, he wasn't without weaponry. Weapons were his lifesavers, and he liked plenty of them. "What are the other databases?" he continued, his ever growing curiosity guiding his search.

"Historical, Ship Registry, Biological, Medical, Entertainment-"

"Put entertainment on-screen." he requested, wondering what was in it, imagining weird alien music and sci-fi versions of TV shows. He was amazed, however, to find that every piece of media he had ever seen, read, or heard of during his life and more, including all six Star Wars films, lay in the database. Markus sat forward, stunned at the mere existence of the files. "What is this database composed of?"

"It is everything that has been broadcast, released as media, or published in print on the planet Earth."

At this Markus paused, comprehending the sheer scale of the computer's memory. "That's awesome" he said, impressed to say the least. This technology was incredibly advanced, far more than his own, the memory systems alone able to hold thousands upon thousands of terabytes. "Copy all files and compress them on datapad A-1." he said after he'd figured out how to select an external drive to copy the files to.

A thin, rectangular piece of metal about the size of a large laptop computer was released from a mounting on the console to his upper right. As he looked it over, he noticed it had a touchscreen control format, a microphone, and some sort of projector mounted on it's side. "Additional requests?"the computer offered after he took the datapad.

"No, I'm good." he replied, more than satisfied with his discoveries. The computer shut down, and the screen went blank. Markus leaned back in the pilot's chair, a grin pasted onto his face. He was more than happy, not only with the technology that had been practically dropped in his lap, but with the opportunity that had been granted to him. He could finally leave his old life behind forever and begin anew. _This whole thing is so kick ass, it's almost surreal. _He thought to himself as he stood up. _Now, let's see what else this place has to offer._

Markus left the cockpit and walked down the cramped hallway, the ceiling only about six inches taller than him. At the end of the hall the was a larger room, like a common area, complete with two tables, a bench, and a large holoprojector in the center. A hall branched off to the gun wells, another two to the sleeping quarters. Two cargo bays, another two medical bays, and the engine maintenance room all branched off from them. Two other rooms adjacent from the common area, looking very much like storage closets, also took up some of the space. But what really caught Markus' eye were two deactivated droids in the corner of one of the storage closets. One was a crimson-highlighted R3 unit with a clear domed head, showing off its processing hardware and sensor suite, and the other looked like a bronze protocol droid except for its streamlined rectangular head and the short-barreled blaster rifle clutched in its hands. This, along with it's exceptional height of a little over six feet tall, made the droid an imposing figure to say the least.

He instantly recognized the latter from Knights of the Old Republic as HK-47, the assassin droid of Darth Revan's. Even after Revan's reconversion to the Jedi, HK returned to him and helped him defeat the Sith Empire he had created, and the droid had also assisted . Markus walked up slowly, and when he was confident there were no traps set for him, he took the rifle from the protocol droid as a precaution and started to look for an activation switch. Sure enough, he found it on the back of its neck. He flipped it, causing the droid to jerk slightly before standing up straight. Its squinty photoreceptors shined a bright red as they winked on. Markus raised the rifle, unsure of what HK-47 would do. The droid did not attack him however, and instead spoke in a voice similar to C-3PO, but without the accent and more cynical and sarcastic in nature.

"Thank you for activating this HK protocol droid. I am HK-47. I am programmed in combat and protocol, and I am also programmed with 1.5 million forms of communication. How may I be of service?" It paused for a moment, then said to itself in an irritated voice, "Why the hell did those confounded Czerka programmers see fit for me to utter the same ridiculous line every time I reactivate? Wait, why am I not identifying my statements before vocalizing them? And who are you?" the droid asked, looking over at him intently.

"Okay...uh, I'm Markus Silverman." Markus said, confused at the robot's wonderings but nonetheless keeping the blaster rifle trained on the droid. "So, are you going to attack me or something?"

"Oh no, Master. Murdering my owner is a direct violation of my primary programming." HK-47 assured him in a much calmer voice. "Unless the owner violates my self-preservation protocol. Unfortunately, most of my former owners misused me, and then when they were finished, they attempted to destroy me. Naturally, I killed them with the most precise and inventive methods I could fathom. Since you have reactivated me, my programming has recognized you as my new Master."

"So you're not going to attack me, right?" Markus asked, still holding the blaster rifle, watching the robot's every move.

"As I said, it is a violation of my primary programming." HK repeated in a slightly more irritated tone.

The teenager thought the droids words over for a moment before giving him the benefit of the doubt. "Okay, I'll buy that." Markus said, lowering the blaster, thankful that he wasn't killed in the first few minutes of his new lease on life. Things were confusing enough without the possibly of imminent death.

"So Master," HK asked him, snapping him out of his thoughts, "where are we? I know I'm aboard the _Ebon Hawk_, but what's happened? How long has it been since I was owned by the Jedi Exile? And I'm still at a loss for a reason why I'm not vocalizing the type of statement I speak before I say it. Don't get me wrong, Master." the droid added. "I enjoy not having to say 'Statement' or 'Recitation' or 'Observation' every time I wish to speak. It just feels...strange."

Markus scratched the back of his head, wondering how the hell he could answer the droids questions, especially the last one. "That's a _really_ freaking long story." he replied, the thought of even telling it making him weary. _There's so much to tell! _Then, the boy had an idea. "HK, can you download data from this?" he asked, handing the droid the datapad. "It ought to explain things a lot better than I can."

The bronze droid took the datapad from the boy's hands, inspecting it for a moment before plugging the device into an input on the front of his midsection. "As you wish, Master, but I don't see why-" The droid suddenly ceased speaking, his photoreceptors flashed on and off, and his head began whipping up, down, left and right, as if he was having some kind of electronic seizure.

Markus raised the rifle again, unsure of what was happening to the robot. "What the hell? HK-"

Markus was cut off as the droid's spasms ceased abruptly, through he still appeared to be in some sort of trance. "I apologize for any worry I caused, Master." HK-47 stared straight ahead, as if in a daydream. "The sheer amount of data being uploaded to my system nearly caused it to crash. Processing..." For a minute there was silence, the soundlessness only broken by an occasion "Processing..." from HK-47. Suddenly the droid seemed to regain his senses, looking directly at Markus.

"You were correct, Master. It would have taken a meatbag such as yourself a great deal of time to explain all this to me, and the explanation still would have been lacking." The droid paused for a half-second before continuing. "Now, from what I understand, you come from a barely post-industrial world in some sort of parallel universe with only humans for intelligent species. Judging by your speech patterns, you have origins on the North American continent, and based on the fact that you managed to land this vessel, you seem to have a passing knowledge of my universe." The droid continued in a slightly more incredulous voice. "It appears I am a character of sorts in a fictional saga named _Star Wars_. Apparently I first debuted in some sort of primitive game called _Knights of the Old Republic_. Odd...the timeline presented for this series does not play out how I imagined it would at all. Still, this is most intriguing!" The droid finished by adding, "Now that that's over with, would you like me to kill something for you?" Before Markus could respond, he continued, pointing over to the R3 unit in the corner. "I believe that R3 unit should be reactivated."

Markus, who had been listening the entire time, shook himself out of his stupor."Sure, whatever." he answered, by now satisfied with whatever discoveries presented themselves. HK stepped forward and, after a moment of inspection, hit a minuscule switch on the front of the R3 unit. The astromech's lights flashed and motors jerked as it came to life. The droid swiveled it's domed head, rolling out of its corner. It then turned to Markus and extended a small sensor rod from it's main body, which shone a broad ray of blue laser light up and down his form.

"What's it doing?" Markus asked HK in a slightly nervous tone as the light shone across his body, traveling up and down rhythmically.

"I believe it is scanning you, master. Is it angering you? May I blast it?" he replied, with an eager tone taking a blaster pistol out of a compartment in his leg, seeming like he was drawing it from a holster. Markus cursed himself silently for not seeing the hidden compartment.

"No, no, it's alright." Markus said quickly, not wanting a possible ally blasted to scrap. Besides, his own R-unit would be cool, too. When the astromech was finished, it retracted the rod and opened a side panel. It then twittered something in typical R-unit binary code.

"It says that it has been instructed to seek out and give the items it carries to a person of a certain 'Force sensitivity', someone who matches its Master profile. Apparently, it thinks that person is you." HK translated, seemingly unfazed at the mention of the Force. Markus' jaw dropped at the mention of the Force, and all he could do was stand there in shock, his brain struggling to comprehend what he was being told.

"So I'm...I'm like a Jedi or something? " Markus asked, completely dumbfounded at the prospect of being a Force-user. The R3 unit beeped again, whistling its message in a matter-of-fact tone. HK translated again.

"Not necessarily, but with a certain amount of training and skills, then yes, you could very well become a Jedi, though why you'd wish to become one of those pacifistic morons, I have no idea. This R3 unit can upload its scan on your datapad, if you wish."

Markus took out the device, still speechless. It flashed to life, and in a moment, a blue outline of a human appeared. Markus squinted at the readout, but was unable to decipher it. "What does this mean?" He showed it to HK, hoping the droid had answers. The droid stared at the screen for a moment before answering,

"Hmmm...very interesting. It appears that you are somewhere in the upper half of the Force spectrum, though I can't pinpoint where. You have much potential, but you'll need experience in order to reach your peak force efficiency."

"I'll be damned..." Markus could say nothing else as he watched the screen, his mind whirling about at full throttle. _This must be another side effect of that rift. My luck's getting better and better!_

He then turned his attention to the R2 unit. He reached into the opened panel, and pulled out a metal cylinder about 11 inches in length. It was silver, with several buttons and knobs adorning it, mainly a large rectangular stud on the side. A black emitter shroud adorned the end, with black ridges lining the silver hilt, creating a contrasting look.

"Oh my God! This is a lightsaber!" he said excitedly as he ran his thumb over the activation stud. The 1.3 meter long cyan blade flared to life, illuminating the corner of the ship. He stared at the weapon, thinking for a moment that the hilt looked like Darth Vader's lightsaber, with its jet-black emitter shroud and handgrip and its chrome handle, then thinking of the possibilities of what he could do with everything he had just come into possession of. He also thought of the possibility that this had happened for a reason, that it wasn't just a random occurrence. He discarded the thought as he shut down the energy blade, however, when he remembered he hadn't eaten for a while.

"Hey, do you know if there's any food here?" he asked HK, remembering that the droid had previous knowledge of the _Ebon Hawk_.

"I believe there is a supply crate in the cargo hold down this hall, if I remember this vessel correctly." he said, gesturing to another passage at the other side of the room. Markus made his way down the hall, and to his right he found the cargo bay with one plain gray box in it. After he pressed a button on the side which shut down a magnetic lock he was able to open it. He found it was filled with emergency supplies, like a portable matter synthesizer , a holdout blaster, a moisture vaporator, a flask, and a backpack with a med-kit. There were also some solar chargers for the electronics. He decided that he would pack everything he could into the bag, just in case he had to leave in a hurry. After eating a pack of bland biscuits labeled "protein rations", he went back through the ship to the droids.

"Okay, I've got the supplies, so we're good in that respect. Hey HK, does this R-unit have a designation?" he asked as he returned down the hallway to the common room. The R3 warbled a response at the protocol droid, and HK translated the binary code.

"It's designation is R3-M4." the droid replied, then added, "Curious. I once knew an astromech designated T3-M4. Annoying little trash compactor..."

"Alright then, I'm going outside to assess the ship and see what's out there. You guys coming?" he asked, clipping the lightsaber to his belt on his jeans.

"We might as well. However, I suggest you give me the blaster." HK suggested. "I am the most qualified marksman here, after all." He held out his hands for the blaster, his movements suggesting his eagerness.

"Oh. Whatever." Markus handed him the rifle. He figured he wouldn't need it anyway since he had the lightsaber. They proceeded to the boarding ramp, and the looked out at a dark forest, filled with the sounds of countless nocturnal creatures, with the full moon above, and the only other source of light coming from the landing lights. To Markus, who had rarely been outside of urban areas for six years of his life, the forest was both amazing and frightening.

"HK, what time is it locally?"Markus asked, wondering exactly how late it was.

"About 0200 hours." the droid said, then added. "Shall we get to work, Master?"

"Alright, let's take a look." Over the next half hour, they scanned the exterior of the saucer-shaped ship, logging in every damaged hull plate or piece of machinery. Apart from some minor details, everything seemed in order, and it appeared that the freighter was altogether still worthy of flight. During this time, Markus learned a great deal about the _Ebon Hawk's_ sublight drives, which used electromagnetically-directed, high density ion thrust to propel the ship through space, and the hyperdrive, which he learned accessed hyperspace by directing an antiproton beam directly ahead of the vessel, opening a subspace vortex that hurled the ship into the hyperspace dimension, which the ship could traverse much faster than normal space. When the ship exited, it used another antiproton beam to revert back to it's original dimension.

Taking a break from the inspection, Markus decided to test his abilities. He remembered reading about the use of the Force, how the user stretched out their mind and analyzed the object, and he tried it out. He focused on a nearby fallen branch, felt it through the Force, then thought of it lifting into the air. Amazingly, it did, rising a full meter, wobbling slightly.

"Impressive, master." HK looked on, watching his new master with interest. "Perhaps you'd like to test your skill with the lightsaber." Three small spheres flew out of the exit hatch, and zooming toward him. Markus whipped the lightsaber out and, before anything happened, chopped the first remote in half with a horizontal swing. The others fired blaster bolts at him, and he moved swiftly, expertly deflecting them. He felt sharp, quick, unnatural, almost as if he knew what would happen before it did, like the bolts went into slow-motion and allowed him to intercept them before reverting back to normal speed.

When the deflected bolts hit their targets, the other remotes retreated into the ship. Markus turned to HK angrily and said, " What the hell was that for?"

"Relax, master. They only fired weak stun bolts. You did remarkably well for your first time."

Markus felt the distinct feel of the lightsaber, the weightless blade moving without hesitation as he waved it. Although it was only practice, he felt the fear at the sudden attack, then the confidence of battle as he deflected the shots, and then the triumph of victory. He shut off the lightsaber, the blade descending into the hilt. "Thanks." he said as he went to practice another new skill. "I think I needed that after all."

Over the course of several hours, Markus spent the time learning new force powers, most of which he had prior knowledge of, making the self-teaching process quick and easy. He was incredibly intrigued by how fast his mastery spread through the core powers, and he felt that these skills would become very useful soon.

* * *

As soon as he knew his grandparents were asleep, Littlefoot crept from his sleeping spot and meandered his way south, to the Dark Forest. He had a feeling that morning that something was wrong, after that dream, and the hole in the sky and the"giant flying rock"everyone was talking about only strengthened his resolution to find out what was going on. He walked for what seemed like hours,past bent old trees and moss-covered logs. He wondered if maybe Cera was right, that dreams were just dreams, and the events that happened were just phenomenon. He was about to give up,when something caught his eye. In the distance, he saw a strange light. His spirits lifted, and he ran to the light. He stopped at the edge of the clearing to see the strange structure lit up by dots on the bottom, along with three unusual figures at it's base.

"You sure that was the only thing wrong?" one of them spoke.

"Yes, with the engines at least. I still have to realign the sensor and communications module." another voice answered. Littlefoot heard a whistling sound and saw that a short, round object with lights on it was moving.

"Yes I'm sure, you irritating little trash receptacle. Why wouldn't I be?" the second one answered it, its voice sounding aggravated.

_One of them must be him,_ the young longneck thought as he watched them, the strange beings using their weird flashing sticks to probe the inside of the structure. He was about to move in for a closer look, but before he could, he heard a twig snap behind him. Looking behind him, he saw a sickle-toed sharptooth with its claws bared, ready to pounce on him!

"Aaahhhhh!" he yelled as he ducked, sending the raptor sprawling and getting the group's attention. He ran out into the clearing, towards the group, seeking refuge. As he approached, the bronze one that walked on two legs and had arms picked up a gray stick and pointed it at him. But instead of attacking him, a red bolt of light shot out from it's tip and blasted the now-recovered raptor behind him. It burned a bright orange a hole in the raptor's chest, and the animal flew backward, crashing to the ground.

Then the bronze being resumed to pointing the stick at him in a combat stance. But before it did anything, a creature with tan, white, and blue skin, with black hair on it's head that also had two arms and legs pulled the stick down.

"Relax, it's not a predator." it said calmly, looking at the terrified Littlefoot with a strange curiosity.

"How are you so sure, Master? It could be anything. Why don't I kill it for you?" the other said, still holding the gray stick. The round thing warbled in what sounded like a questioning tone.

"Well, creatures that looked like these lived on my homeworld in its distant past." the creature responded, pointing at Littlefoot, who didn't dare move, despite his own curiosity. " This particular species looks like a Brontosaurus."

Before Littlefoot could ask any questions, a dozen more raptors jumped from the brush, claws extended, drawn by the sound of the fire-shooting stick. The bronze one hit a flat light on the side of the structure, and the thin piece of metal on the bottom was retracted inside of it. As the carnivores closed in, the two-legged one reached into a fold of skin on it's leg and pulled out a small silver cylinder. Moving his thumb over a black stud on the side, he activated the strange object, and a cyan blade shot out with a _snap-hiss_.

_That's him!_ Littlefoot thought excitedly as it walked out into the clearing, holding the blade. A raptor pounced, leaping forward and he cleaved it in two as it flew through the air. Another followed suit, and he sidestepped left as he chopped it's head off. The bronze one gave cover fire with the gray stick, striking down sharptooth after sharptooth, though the blue bladed one was holding its own against them, now on an all out offensive, running up and hacking through the sickle-claws like they were nothing. The blade hummed as it moved through the air and gave off a hiss as it cut through the flesh Strangely enough, Littlefoot noticed there was no blood on the wounds, and only a burning smell was left hanging in the air. When the fight was finished, the being exhaled slowly, and the blade retracted with another hiss. It walked back towards them, grinning. "How was that for experience?" he asked, satisfied with the chance to use his skills.

"Excellent." the bronze one said. "However, I advise we figure out a way to deal with this." it said, gesturing towards Littlefoot with its fire-shooting stick. The other seemed to study him closely, taking in his four and a half foot height and long neck with a strange curiosity.

"If we can follow it, perhaps it could lead us out of this place, maybe help us find a civilization, or at least somewhere with people." he replied, his eyes lighting up as he looked over Littlefoot with a strange curiosity.

"Not really," Littlefoot finally replied, his curiosity about the strange beings getting the best of him."I've never been in this far."

"What the-!" Markus stopped mid-sentence as he backpedaled and tripped on a stone, falling onto his back, obviously startled at the creature's ability to speak.

"Pardon me, master, but I believe this meatbag can actually communicate." HK informed the human, equally surprised but still managing his characteristic deadpan. R3 gave a high shrill and lurched backward in surprise.

"But how?" Markus asked as he picked himself up, fearful that his mind was playing tricks on him. _I've got to be freaking insane!_

"Easy. I talk just like you do." Littlefoot said in confusion, not seeing the problem."What's your name?"

"Markus." Markus answered,still startled. He noticed Littlefoot's confused expression."It's just that, where I'm from, dinosaurs don't talk." he tried to explain, then paused."What's your name?" he asked, now interested in perhaps acquiring another helpful ally in what ever strange world he was in.

"I'm Littlefoot." Littlefoot smiled. He was right after all. The being was friendly, and now he had no doubt that this was the one his mother had told him about.

"Good to meet you Littlefoot. This is HK-47 and R3-M4."the human said, indicating the droids, who looked at him, but did not respond.

"Hi." Littlefoot greeted them, wondering where they got such weird names. Just then, an ever larger wave of raptors appeared, forming a huge semi-circle around the group. The wave, which seemed to number in the twenties or thirties, seemed to be led by an aggressive white scaled raptor, who seemed most eager to attack. HK opened fire immediately, but most of his potential targets kept sidestepping his shots, much to the droid's chagrin.

"Don't suppose you'd know a way out of this?" Markus asked Littlefoot as the raptors closed in, gripping his lightsaber tightly in fear of the approaching meat-eaters.

"We can head back to the valley! It's safe there!" Littlefoot answered quickly, backing up simultaneously with Markus.

"Which way?" Markus asked quickly, at that point not caring where he was going.

"I think it's behind us!" Littlefoot barely waited for the human to finish his sentence before answering, his fear at the advancing sharpteeth growing by the second.

"Well then," Markus said as he backed up another step, glancing back at the raptors. "I think now would be a great time for us to RUN!"

The group turned around and ran as fast as they could, raptors snapping at their heels. R3, having already calculated that he would not be able to keep up with the group, activated his zero-g jets. The nozzles opened outward and burned a bright blue as the droid rose into the air and flew after the group. Occasionally, HK would fire a volley of blaster bolts at the raptors, but this did little to deter them, and mostly just made the chase noisier.

They ran until Littlefoot, who was in front, tripped over a small rock at the top of a hill. Not watching where he was going, Markus slammed into him and they both rolled down the hill, Markus cursing each time he hit the ground. HK followed on his feet,as he had slowed down before the hill. R3 finally caught up with them and landed beside them. After they got up and brushed themselves off, they noticed the raptors were no longer following. "Come on," Littlefoot urged as they got to their feet, turning towards the direction of the Great Valley. "the Bright Circle is almost up."

"Huh?" Markus asked, not understanding the dinosaur's terminology. At the human's question, Littlefoot turned around and looked at him quizzically.

"You don't know about the Bright Circle?" Littlefoot was stunned that Markus had apparently never seen or heard of it."You know, the big, bright circle in the sky?"

It took Markus a moment to realize what the young longneck meant. "Oh, I get it! You call that the sun." Markus felt a little embarrassed for not seeing the connection, as it seemed obvious in hindsight. "I guess we have different names for things."

At about that time the group finally emerged from the Dark Forest, and were greeted by a lush, green, fertile valley, with meadows and tree and even a river running through it, with the sun shining bright overhead. "Wow! This is where you live?" Markus asked, utterly amazed at the landscape's beauty. Since he had spent most of his life in cities, this kind of landscape was completely foreign to him. "It's...incredible!"

"Yeah, I know." Littlefoot blushed at the comment. _If I had a treestar for every time someone said that..._ he thought.

Just then, an aged voice called out Littlefoot's name. "Littlefoot!" the male voice rang out, echoing across the land

"Is someone calling you, Littlefoot?" Markus asked, wondering who or what it was that was addressing the dinosaur.

"That's Grandpa!" Littlefoot realized, instinctively heading over to answer his grandfather's call. "Come on!" the longneck said as he lead Markus and the two droids through the meadow to his waiting grandfather. Markus and the droids followed, and Markus wondered to himself just how crazy his day was going to get.

* * *

The looming specter of the gas giant Yavin was beginning to retreat from the sky by late afternoon, the sun not far behind it. Yavin Four's jungles already clamored with anticipation at the coming of nightfall, and it seemed that the only place on the planet that wasn't completely overrun with howling animals and chirping insects was the Great Massassi Temple, a huge stone construct that had been built by the ancient Sith species under the rule of Exar Kun nearly four thousand years before its use as a Rebel base nearly twenty-four years prior. It was this base that Luke Skywalker had protected when he destroyed the Death Star. While it had been evacuated shortly thereafter, nearly eleven years later it had once again come back onto the galactic map, as the official Jedi Academy of Skywalker's new cadre of Jedi Knights.

After the Battle of Endor and the death of his father, Anakin Skywalker, Luke had continued his role in the New Republic's freedom fight, with the New Republic being the official government of the Rebel Alliance. Over time, however, his focus changed from military conquest to the reestablishment of the Jedi, and numerous encounters with other Force-sensitive beings only strengthened his resolve. The years leading up to the creation of the Academy had been one trial after another. The Empire simply had not wanted to die, and that resolve showed itself in its various firebrand leaders over the years.

First there had been Ysanne Isard, head of Imperial Intelligence. She took control of the early post-Endor Empire and fought a vicious and cutthroat war with the New Republic, and its famed Rogue Squadron X-wing unit in particular, unleashing the Krytos plague on Coruscant and using her Super Star Destroyer _Lusankya _to take control of the galaxy's supply of the healing medicine bacta. She faked her own death in the Battle of Coruscant and evaded her enemies for many years, but she was finally killed after the defeat of Warlord Zsinj on the bridge of her captured Super Star Destroyer, and she had faded away into history. Next there had been Grand Admiral Thrawn, who, with his genius and cloning technology, not to mention the assistance of the mad Jedi Joruus C'Boath, had nearly brought the New Republic to its knees, and his reign had only been stopped through his assassination at the hands of one of his bodyguards, who discovered Thrawn was fooling his species into serving as the Empire's personal assassins.

The worst of the Imperial resurgences, in Luke's mind, was the resurrected Emperor Palpatine. The Emperor, using his incredible knowledge of the dark side of the Force, had preserved his spirit after his first death at Endor, and had taken a long and harrowing journey to his secret base on the Deep Core world of Byss. Here, he entered one of his cloned bodies that was waiting for him, and slowly began to contact Imperial Remnant forces. By the time he struck, the New Republic was caught completely offguard. Utilizing a new Super Star Destroyer featuring a built-in superlaser, the _Eclipse_, the reborn Emperor launched a devastating offensive on the rest of the galaxy, first moving in to briefly retake Coruscant, capturing Luke in the process. It was then that Luke made one of his worst mistakes; believing he could undermine Palpatine's new Empire from within, he knelt before the Dark Lord and pledged him his service.

What followed was nothing short of a massacre. Palpatine, with Luke at his side, launched a brutal assault on the oceanic world of Mon Calamari. Using his newest superweapons, the World Devastators, devices that tore through a planet's crust and used it's minerals to construct fleets of droid TIE fighters, the Sith Lord brutally destroyed several of the planet's floating cities. Although Luke was eventually able to give R2-D2 the self-destruct codes for the huge war machines, his mind had become clouded by the dark side. Even as he was sabotaging Palpatine's empire, he was actually playing into the Emperor's hands. During a failed assassination attempt in which Luke tried to destroy all of Palpatine's clones, the Dark Lord engaged and defeated Skywalker in a lightsaber duel, then forced Skywalker to accompany him to the temporary head of the New Republic, Pinnacle Base, where Palpatine would use the _Eclipse_ to destroy the stronghold. When the Eclipseentered the system, however, Leia was able to board the massive flagship. Together, Luke and Leia battled the Emperor, who used his powers to create a devastating Force Storm. Using their combined power, Luke and Leia were able to cause Palpatine to lose control of the storm, and they escaped just as the Force Storm consumed the _Eclipse._

This was not the end of the Palpatine resurgence, however. Palpatine was able to reach the last of his cloned bodies and, using his secondary flagship _Eclipse II _and the new superweapon known as the Galaxy Gun, Palpatine threatened the galaxy once again. Palpatine's reconquest could not continue because of one undeniable flaw in his plans: he was dying. His last clone body was failing him, and he realized that he would new a new, Force-strong body to continue. Palpatine in his new clone body then took his new flagship,to Onderon to claim the body of young Anakin Solo, Han and Leia's third child. Luke and his Jedi companions boarded the ship, but Palpatine was gone. R2-D2 then sent the ship on a collision course with the Galaxy Gun. Meanwhile, Palpatine found Leia and Han on the surface, but Luke and his companions, including an old Jedi named Empatojayos Brand arrived there to aid them. A vicious battle ensued, which left Brand mortally wounded. However, Han Solo was able to shoot Palpatine in the back. As his dark spirit flew towards Anakin in a final attempt at life, Brand clasped it with his own and took the menace of Palpatine with him to his death.

Since then there had been several more battles and resurgences, but Luke had finally been able to accomplish his goal: the restoration of the Jedi Order. Slow in developing, it existed for a number of years as a disparate group of Force-sensitives with various degrees of training. Eleven years after Yavin, however, Luke initiated the first formal training school for Jedi in decades, the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. Starting with an initial group of 12 students, the Order slowly grew in numbers and stature, becoming a core part of the New Republic that sponsored it. This meant it was repeatedly targeted by enemies of the Republic, such as Imperial Admiral Daala, the Empire Reborn, and the Second Imperium. Members of the order were involved in many of the key conflicts in the galaxy, including Operation Shadow Hand, the Black Fleet Crisis and the Corellian Insurrection.

At this particular moment, Luke was busy training a group of teenaged Jedi in the art of lightsaber combat, his sister's twins and his niece and nephew Jaina and Jacen Solo among them. While he couldn't always be at the academy, he spent as much time as possible training the apprentices. He smiled as he watched them block stun bolts from training remotes while wearing a blast shield helmet, the same exercise Obi-Wan Kenobi had taught him on the Millennium Falcon. He sighed, wishing Obi-Wan were there now, helping him to train all of these anxious apprentices. He'd set up the Academy over thirteen years before, and his original class of 12 had turned into dozens of new trainees, the first students becoming their teachers.

This class, like many others, was mixed. While the older students, like Jacen, Jaina, and their friends were already fairly proficient with a lightsaber, some of the newer students were just learning. And while some might have considered the setup confusing, it was actually very beneficial to both parties, as the newer students could benefit from the experience of the others, and the older students could gain valuable experience in training others in the Force. When the students were finished, he addressed them before they went off to their next class.

"Your performance today was impressive," the Jedi Master began as he eyed each of them individually, pride instinctively swelling in him. "and I'm seeing great progress from-" Luke stopped speaking abruptly as he put a hand on his forehead, a troubling feeling sweeping over him. Some of the students gasped in surprise, and Lowbacca, Chewbacca's Jedi nephew and Jacen and Jaina's good friend, woofed a concerned question at him, concern evident in the Wookie's tone.

"Are you alright, Master Skywalker?" Tenel Ka, another friend of the twins and heir to the Hapan Cluster throne, watched him, the one-armed girl equally worried about the Jedi Master's sudden lapse.

"I sense a disturbance in the force." Luke managed to say, his hand still on his forehead, the strange premonition-like feeling still coarsing through him.

"What is it?" asked Jacen, the teen wondering why he hadn't experienced it himself. "Some sort of danger?"

Luke paused before answering his nephew, trying to sort through his thoughts. "I don't know. It felt so far away, like something, somewhere, is out of place." he answered, lowering his hand and standing up to his full height, confusion swelling within him. _What was that?_

"That explains why we didn't feel it." Jaina added, wondering what it was that had her uncle so distressed. "We aren't as strong as you yet. We might not be able to sense something that far away."

Luke was silent for a moment, then abruptly ended the class. "Contact Coruscant and tell them to watch for any unusual activity. And get your mother on the Holonet in my quarters." Luke instructed as he walked out of the classroom and towards his room, quickly adding as he left,

"Whatever this disturbance is, it needs to be discovered. Class dismissed."


	5. Introductions

After a short run, Markus saw two huge creatures up ahead, which he he assumed were Littlefoot's grandparents due to their similarity to his new friend. Just like Littlefoot, they were Brontosaurus, but fully grown. Markus estimated them to be a little less than thirty feet in height, and almost three times that in length. Markus' excitement from the whirlwind of events of the day suddenly gave way to apprehension. While it seemed Littlefoot was friendly enough, he had no idea what his grandparents were like, and needless to say he was quite intimidated at being near such massive creatures when he had no idea what they were going to do. As he slowed to a walk, Littlefoot turned to face him.

"I have to talk to Grandpa for a minute. You stay here." Markus nodded as the droids caught up, not too eager to confront the huge creatures. Littlefoot turned and walked over to meet his waiting grandfather, smiling politely and trying to act as if nothing was out of place. "Hi Grandpa!" he called out as he neared him, his grandmother having wandered away before he approached.

"Hello Littlefoot. Where have you been all morning?" his grandfather asked, letting a concerned note enter his voice.

Littlefoot then paused for a moment, wondering what exactly he would say. "I, uh, went to get a drink." Littlefoot stalled, hoping his grandfather would buy that and change the subject, but the young longneck knew in the back of his mind it was a futile attempt.

"But when I awoke your sleeping spot was cold! How long does it take to get a drink?" His grandfather paused for a moment as an idea crossed his mind. "Littlefoot," he started slowly, slowly realizing where his grandson had been. "did you go into the the Dark forest?"

Littlefoot froze for a moment, wondering how his grandfather had possibly known before remembering he had told his grandfather about his dream. His grandfather already knew he was lying, so keeping it up wouldn't do much good at all. The longneck sighed in defeat."Yes..."

"Littlefoot, how many times have Grandma and I told you not to go in there?!?" his grandfather nearly reared up in anger before recognizing the delicate nature of the topic. The old longneck continued less forcefully, still trying to stress the importance of his message. "Dinosaurs have gone in there and never come out!"

"But I had to!" Littlefoot protested, trying to make his grandfather see his point of view."I had to see what my dream was about!"

"But it's dangerous in there! A sharptooth could have gotten you!" his grandfather countered after pausing to remember the dream Littlefoot had told him about the day before. "No dream is more important than your life, Littlefoot!"

"I know! I was attacked while I was in there!" Littlefoot replied excitedly, belatedly wondering if he had revealed too much by saying he had been attacked.

"Really? But how did you escape?" his grandfather asked, worried that his grandson had been attacked but glad he had escaped unharmed.

"Well..."Littlefoot started, then he turned back to where Markus and the droids were waiting, deciding whether or not to show his grandfather his new friends. "Grandpa, I have something to show you. Can I go get it?" he asked, hoping that showing Markus, HK-47, and R3-M4 to his grandfather would help explain the whole situation.

"All right," his grandfather replied, perplexed at the young longneck's request but interested in what Littlefoot would present to him. "but make it quick." Littlefoot then disappeared into the brush for a moment, returning with three of the strangest creatures his grandfather had ever seen. The first creature walked on its hind legs, and was multicolored and had a patch of what looked like black fur on its head. The second one was all one color, bronze. It walked on its hind legs as well, but it didn't seem to have a mouth,and looked like it was covered in shiny rock, and it carried a strange stick that it gripped between its hands. The last object was short and squat, with lights adorning its swiveling domed head (at least it looked like a head). It was crimson and white in color, and it moved unlike any other creature he had seen. It had what looked like three legs, but the ends were barely movable stumps. And yet it still moved, as if it was rolling along, making beeping and whistling sounds as it went.

"Grandpa, this is Markus." Littlefoot introduced Markus to his grandfather, nudging the human towards the great longneck. Markus, gripped by apprehension, stepped forward and smiled meekly up at the dinosaur, offering a small "Hi" in greeting.

"Hello there," his grandfather said once he regained his voice, still astounded at this new creature Littlefoot had brought home with him. "I'm Littlefoot's grandfather. You met my grandson in the Dark Forest?"

"Yes, sir." Markus answered, trying to be polite. "I met him when we were attacked by a pack of some sort of carnivore. I managed to kill a few-" Before he could elaborate, however, HK-47 interrupted, slightly aggravated.

"Well, don't take all the credit, master!" the droid snapped in an annoyed tone. "I made a few decent kills as well!" R3-M4 warbled a comment, to which the bronze assassin droid replied, "Of course I'm not proud of them! The shots that terminated the beasts were sloppy at best. It was hardly my finest work!"

"What is it talking about?" Littlefoot's grandfather turned to Markus, already surprised that the droid can talk, and gave him a questionable look. But before Markus could answer, Littlefoot jumped in.

"They saved me from a whole pack of sharpteeth, Grandpa! They killed them with their weird sticks!" Littlefoot interrupted excitedly. The young longneck was about to elaborate further, but a quick look from his grandfather made him pause. Grandpa Longneck turned back to Markus.

"Well, whoever you are, I thank you for saving my grandson." he said, craning his long neck down to meet the human at eye level. "But, tell me, what exactly are you? And where are you from?"

Markus scratched the back of his head, unsure of how to answer such a complicated question. "Well, it's kind of a long story, but I'm a human, and HK and R3 are droids. I come from a different world, possibly a different universe all together. I'm guessing the droids were created the moment I emerged here, since droids don't exist in my universe, and HK-47 shouldn't be with an R3 unit, which was developed millenia after him. It's hard to explain." he added upon seeing the dinosaur's puzzled expression.

"I'm not quite sure what all of that means, but I understood most of it." Littlefoot's grandfather smiled, pleased at the smaller being's politeness. The introduction had been somewhat confusing, but at least he knew the creature before him was no threat. He had, after all, saved his grandson.

"Show him the shiny stick you used!" Littlefoot interjected, bringing on another wave of confusion in his grandfather. Markus smirked at the confused dinosaur.

"I think he means this." Markus unclipped the lightsaber from his belt. He thumbed the ignition, and the blue-white blade sprang to life with its signature _snap-hiss_. The dinosaurs looked at it in awe and wonder as Markus twirled it a bit, causing the beam of light to hum and whir as it cut through the air.

"What is it?" Littlefoot's grandfather asked as he watched the blade, awestruck at the beam that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"It's a lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. A more elegant weapon, for a more civilized age." Markus answered, taking a quote from the movies as he cut a good-sized rock that lay by his foot in half for a demonstration.

"Jedi Knight?" Littlefoot and his grandfather asked simultaneously, perplexed at the new term.

"The Jedi Knights are a group of guardians who's duty is to protect the galaxy from evil and restore balance to the Force."

"The Force?" the dinosaurs pressed, immensely mystified at the mention of such strange-sounding things. Indeed, their perception of Markus had quickly gone from being a small, odd-looking newcomer to a being with seemingly magic powers in a matter of minutes.

"Well, the Force is what gives a Jedi his power." The teen demonstrated by letting the Force flow through his body like he had practiced and into one of the halves of the rock he had cut, causing it to rise a bit into the air, much to the surprise of Littlefoot and his grandfather. "It's an energy that is in all living things. It creates us, surrounds us and binds the galaxy together, or so I'm told. This is fiction where I'm from, so this is pretty new to me." He switched off the lightsaber before continuing. "But to be a Jedi you need a certain amount of that energy in you."

"Well," Littlefoot's grandfather said, amazed at the incredible things the human had shown him. "this place you speak of sounds incredible. I wouldn't mind hearing more about the other things you 'humans' can do."

Markus sighed, grinning as he realized just how much of a cultural difference there was between him and the dinosaurs. "Well, it's a pretty long story..." he started, not wanting to bore his new acquaintances. "I don't want to keep you here all day."

"Oh, don't worry." Grandpa Longneck laid down as he prepared to listen to more about where Markus came from. "I'm not going anywhere, and I'd love to hear more about what your world is like."

"Yeah, me too!" Littlefoot chimed in with his grandfather, eager to hear more of Markus' stories.

Markus grinned and sat down on the grass next to the two longnecks. "Alright then," he started. "where should I start?"

Over the next two hours or so, Littlefoot and his grandfather listened to Markus explain about how he had gotten to the Valley, and the general basics of both universes. Naturally, many concepts were incredibly hard for the dinosaurs to grasp, but in the end they understood most of it remarkably well. Littlefoot's grandmother came along after a few minutes to find her mate and grandson talking with Markus. At first was shocked at Markus' presence, but she too was soon captivated by the fantastic things he spoke of. Suddenly, the group heard a voice yell out from somewhere in the distance.

"Littlefoot!" it called, the ringing feminine voice managing to keep its impatient tone despite it's volume.

Littlefoot jumped up turned to his grandfather. "That's Cera and the others! They've been expecting me! Grandpa, can me and Markus go play?" he asked.

"Of course, Littlefoot." his grandfather replied, smiling warmly. "Take care of yourselves, won't you?"

"We will! Come on!" The young longneck ran off in the direction of the voice. Markus turned back to the droids.

"You two coming?" he asked them. R3 beeped in reply, and HK answered for the both of them,

"Master, if you don't mind, we will join you later. I wish to survey the area for future reference."

Markus nodded back in acknowledgement, then ran ahead to catch up with Littlefoot.

* * *

Luke Skywalker walked briskly through the halls of the Massassi Great Temple towards his quarters in the old pilots section, back when it was used as a Rebel base. He would never forget the day he had first set foot in the Temple It was the middle of Galactic Civil War when he arrived,nothing but a farmboy from Tatooine. He quickly joined Red Squadron, and, after a harrowing space dogfight and trench run, destroyed the Death Star. He sighed as he continued through the stony halls of the Academy, passing several students on his way. There wasn't anything more life-changing than that, at least not for him. And yet, he had felt something that carried just as much weight as the Battle of Yavin. It felt like something was out of place, like an old friend appearing alongside newer ones.

Putting the thought aside, he went into his quarters and turned on the Holonet receiver. Normally he wouldn't bother his sister like this, but he wanted to find out what was going on and, if it was sinister in nature, find out what he could do to prevent it. A shadowy yet realistic image of Leia appeared. She smiled at Luke, and he remembered when he had rescued he from the first Death Star, back in the old days of the Alliance. _The old days, _he thought with some sadness, _it seems like forever since then._

"Hi, Leia." he said, putting on a smile similar to hers. They were both in difficult positions, but Luke figured that being a Councilor of the New Republic was decidedly worse than being a Jedi Master in most cases. And, as the stress of her work increased, that duty had taken its toll on her. She still was as beautiful as when he had first met her, but she seemed tired, a little subdued. Physical reminders of the last twenty four years were also present in her weathered skin and a slight graying in her hair.

"Hey, Luke! Jaina's already told me you sensed something and that I should contact you. I don't have much time, though. I have a meeting with the Senator from Bakura in a few minutes, and I can't be late."

Luke sighed good-naturedly. _She always takes everything as seriously as possible!_ he thought to himself. "This won't take long. I just wanted to know if you felt anything strange. Some sort of presence or something."

Her eyes clouded for a moment as she recalled her memory."I think I felt something like that a few minutes ago, during that Barlok trade negotiation. I dismissed it, probably because I thought they were just stray emotions from the Senators, but now that I think about it, something was off, or out of place. I can't really describe it."

"Interesting." Luke said, musing over the new details. _So it's not just me,_ he thought, puzzling over the dilemma."Well, in any case, could you ask General Cracken to give me weekly updates on Imperial Remnant activity? I have a hunch one of the breakaway groups could be involved."

"Will do." she replied. A beeping sound emanated from the console Leia was sitting at, and she glanced down at it. "Sorry to end this so soon. My meeting's any minute now. See you later!" Luke waved at her, and her image disappeared, replaced by the New Republic insignia.

Then, as if on cue, the request entrance tone on his door buzzed, announcing the visitor."Come on in." Luke called, and the door slid open, allowing Jedi Master Kyle Katarn to stroll into the room. Kyle Katarn was a famous Jedi and Rebel operative from Sulon. He was a former Imperial stormtrooper who defected to the Rebellion. As a Rebel Intelligece agent he performed many covert missions for the Rebel Alliance and later the New Republic, including the sabotage of the Dark Trooper Project.

Kyle was later informed of his Force sensitivity, and taught himself to become a Jedi while in search of the Valley of the Jedi, and his father's killer. While on this journey, he confronted the dark side within both himself and in the form of Dark Jedi Jerec and his minions. Defeating them, Kyle went on to become a Jedi Master, teaching at the Jedi Praxeum.

"Hey, Luke." he said as he entered, nodding at the younger man in greeting.

"Hi, Kyle." The Jedi Master gestured to a chair. "Please, have a seat."

"Thanks." Kyle sat in the chair, then continued. "Jaina told me to come and see you. She said something about a sense you got during a class or something."

Luke shook his head and smiled a bit. "Does word really travel that fast?" His expression became more serious as he began to elaborate to the other Jedi."I sensed a disturbance in the Force."

Kyle rolled his eyes a bit before taking on a more businesslike tone."You always sense a disturbance in the Force, but yeah, I sensed it too."

"You did?" Luke straightened up a bit, interested at the revelation.

"Yeah, me and a few of the other 'seniors'." he said, referring to the first few groups of students Luke had taught, nearly thirteen years prior. He looked at Luke, scratching his short beard thoughtfully. "What do you think's gonna happen?"

"I don't know. Perhaps it's another Dark Jedi cult or something." Luke hypothesized, a chill running up his spine as harsh memories surfaced at the mention of Dark Jedi.

"Maybe." Kyle answered, his mind running through the possibilities. "It felt different, though, and I know how a Dark Jedi feels in the Force."

"I've asked Leia to give me reports on Imperial activity as a precaution." Luke added, though he didn't feel too comforted by the statement.

"Good." Kyle narrowed his eyes gravely." Because if it's another Sith Lord, we're gonna need all the precautions we can get."


	6. The gang

Markus and Littlefoot ran down past meadows and streams to a group of trees, which served as the gang's meeting place. Along the way, Markus looked on in fascination at the multitude of species of dinosaurs living in the Great Valley. He had seen dinosaur skeletons in museums before, but the sheer size and immensity of some nearly overwhelmed him. It was as if he'd traveled back in time, though he knew it couldn't be possible since these dinosaurs were far more intelligent than paleontology claimed, not to mention the fact that this many species lived together defied common theories of evolution. That, and all the Star Wars stuff. While he couldn't even begin to guess where or when in the Star Wars galaxy he was, he knew he was there, and to him that's all that mattered. His whole predicament was getting more and more unreal by the second, but he reasoned that he might as well go along with everything and see what happened.

As he reached the group of trees with Littlefoot, Markus saw no less than four other young dinosaurs sitting underneath the branches, each a different species. He noted that Littlefoot was tallest of them all, his lengthy neck giving him a height of four and a half feet. The Triceratops and Stegosaurus he also saw were about a foot shorter, though all three seemed to be about his size, even though they were juveniles. The other two, a Parasaurolophus and a Pteranodon, were dwarfed by the others, and looked no taller than a foot and a half or so. The sight of the various species all coming together as friends was intriguing to Markus, and he realized that whatever culture or society these dinosaurs had created, it had done away with racism. Markus' train of thought collapsed suddenly as he realized the group of young dinosaurs was staring at him, baffled expressions adorning their features. Markus felt a surge of anxiety build within him as he slowed, hoping he wouldn't provoke a hostile reaction from the dinosaurs.

Littlefoot, on the other hand, acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, and smiled warmly at his friends, despite their baffled expressions. "Hey guys!" he greeted them in his usual cheerful tone.

Markus almost winced at the silence Littlefoot received, his hopes for a calm introduction decreasing by the second. He watched cautiously as beige Triceratops girl was the first to find her voice. "Uhhh...Littlefoot?" she said slowly, eying Markus peculiarly as she moved to get a better look, wariness evident in her questioning tone. "What is that?"

Markus broke the awkward silence, figuring that he might as well be direct."I'm Markus, I'm a human, and yeah, I know I look weird." The human's sudden speech slightly startled everyone, and for a moment he feared he had only made things worse.

Littlefoot tried to break the palpable tension hanging in the air, trying to spark some sort of conversation, anything to lighten the mood. "He's from the big flying thing that came from the hole in the sky!" he started, letting excitement enter his voice. "He fought off a whole pack of sharpteeth!"

Markus watched as the group's faces went from confused to amazed, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief as the tension slowly dissipated. The small green Parasaurolophus spoke next, jumping down from the Stegosaurus' back. "How did you do that?" she asked in her high-pitched voice. Markus grinned slightly as she spoke in crisp, clear syllables, unlike anyone he had ever heard.

"Well, I really didn't have that much of a choice." Markus replied, scratching the back of his head in slight embarrassment at the dinosaurs' incredulous expressions. "It was just natural for me to fight my way out."

The brown-winged Pteranodon called out from the back of the Triceratops, his cawing, bird-like speech startling. "You fight whole pack of sharpteeth? That amazing!"

Markus was getting more and more interested in this group, and decided that perhaps he should get to know them better. "Thanks." he replied to the Pteranodon, unsure of what to say. "Uh, I guess you already know who I am. What are your names?" he asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

The Parasaurolophus smiled and answered, "I am Ducky, yep, yep, yep! The threehorn is Cera, the flyer is Petrie, you already know Littlefoot, and Spike is over there." Markus looked to see the green Stegosaurus happily munching on a bush, his attention already diverted from the conversation. "He does not talk so much yet." Ducky added.

Cera still was suspicious of Markus, and stepped forward, furrowing her brow as she looked at the new creature. "What exactly are you again?" she asked, her question carrying a slightly interrogative tone.

Markus shrugged as he did his best to answer."I'm a human. I'm not from around here, so that explains why there's only one of me. I come from another universe, actually, so I'm completely new to all this."

Littlefoot was glad to see that his friends all seemed to accept Markus, and the young longneck continued to kindle the flame of interest Markus was presenting. "Show them your lightsaber!" he proposed, knowing that the strange weapon would no doubt amaze his friends further. Markus obliged and pulled the hilt from his belt, thumbing the control. Everyone gasped as the lightsaber came to life, the cyan blade springing out with a _snap-hiss_. They all gazed at the glowing blade, as if hypnotized by its glow.

"This is one of the things I used to fight the "sharpteeth", as you call them." he said, himself unable to take his eyes off the blade, the incredible weapon serving as yet another reminder of the incredible things that were happening to him.

Ducky looked at the glowing bar of light in utter amazement. "Wow! This is your lightsaber? What does it do?"

Markus demonstrated the weapon's abilities again by tossing another rock up and bisecting it, sending the halves hissing to the ground. "It can cut through almost anything," he explained, "and the blade weighs practically nothing." He waved it in the air, making the saber hum. "It's way cooler than what

I'm used to, that's for sure."

Petrie removed his gaze from the blade, turning to Markus and finding the courage to ask a new question. "Where you get it?" he questioned in his croaky voice.

Markus shut the saber down before answering, "Well, it's a pretty long story, and I don't know if you want to hear it-"

Cera, forgetting her earlier adversarial attitude, interjected, "Oh, come on! Tell us!"

Markus grinned slightly before sitting down on the ground. "Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you..."

Over the course of the next hour or so, Markus talked about everything and anything he could about where he came from and the basics of the Star Wars universe. He found himself going over relatively simple pieces of technology that were common in the twenty-first century, not to mention totally outdated in the Star Wars universe, as well as describing devices he himself didn't fully understand. Markus also listened to the young dinosaurs as they told him about their own world; about the Great Valley, the Mysterious Beyond outside of the paradise's mountainous walls, and of their incredible adventures, including their meeting a friendly sharptooth named Chomper, the legend of Doc, the "lone Dinosaur", and their quest to find a "Stone of Cold Fire", which Markus suspected was an asteroid. He looked up after a short speech on how his datapad worked just in time to see the droids approaching. The dinosaurs regained their astonished looks at the sight of the mechanical beings, and Cera immediately reverted to her suspicious nature, walking up to the two robots in a commanding manner and questioning them as if she were interrogating them. "Hey, who are you? And how did you get here?"

HK-47 responded in his typical fashion, walking right past the gruff threehorn as if she didn't exist. "That's nothing that concerns you, organic meatbag." R3 whistled and sputtered, chiming in his agreement with his bipedal counterpart.

"Hey!" Cera struggled for a retort as the robots continued. She was sure she'd just been insulted by the odd newcomers, but didn't exactly know how to respond to being called a "meatbag".

"This is HK-47 and R3-M4." Markus said, trying to introduce them as politely as possible. HK looked at every dinosaur child in turn, his red photoreceptors scanning them.

"Ah, more meatbags. Wonderful." he said sarcastically, turning to Markus. "Master, there is nothing to be gained from fraternization with these beings. None of them even bothered to answer my simple inquiries. Every one of them just gave me a perplexed stare."

"What are you?" Ducky interjected, eager to learn about the strange-looking arrivals. She flinched a little as HK mechanically jerked his head over to look at her, the droid's glowing red eyes giving the young dinosaur a small pang of fear.

"I am HK-47, translation and assassin droid developed by Czerka Corporation, and this is R3-M4, an R-series astromechanical droid from Industrial Automation."

"He can fight sharpteeth, too!' Littlefoot added, drawing the assassin's attention. HK turned his gaze to the young longneck, his droid face expressionless.

"Yes, your indigenous carnivores were hardly a challenge. The only thing they have going for them is their numbers." he answered dryly. "All it took was a nice, clean blaster bolt to the skull and down they went."

The droids arrival launched another discussion about Markus' technology. Markus showed them everything he had, from the droids to the med pack to the synthesizer. HK chose to explain the rudiments of blaster technology, which even taught Markus a few things as well. "So a blaster doesn't actually use a laser at all?" Markus wondered aloud after HK's explanation.

"No master, nothing so primitive!" HK was delighted to answer, enjoying the use of his combat knowledge. "The blaster's power could never be effectively utilized with a laser. The bolt you see when a blaster is fired is made up of highly energized, compressed ions. The bolt is magnetically accelerated out of the barrel and towards its target."

Markus nodded, trying to wrap his mind around the concept. The dinosaurs, on the other hand, were just plain confused. "Uh...what?" Cera said, completely baffled by the droid's technobabble. Markus just smirked at the gang's confused looks, replying,

"Don't worry, I'm not sure I totally understood it, either."

The dinosaurs were about to pose another question to the human and his two mechanical companions, when the resounding calls of dinosaurs in the distance reached the group's ears. "That's Mama." Ducky said, turning to leave with Spike."Good night, everyone! Come on, Spike." One by one, the member's of the group left, wishing each other good night as they went off towards their respective parents. Littlefoot, Markus, and the droids headed back towards the young longneck's grandparents just as the sun disappeared over the horizon. Littlefoot smiled to himself, as he knew it wouldn't be long before news of his new friend spread throughout the Great Valley.

Littlefoot's grandfather awaited him at the nest, and Littlefoot was about to follow when Markus and the two droids broke off and headed into their own patch of grass for the night. At first Littlefoot thought about just going home and leaving Markus, but he knew it wouldn't be right. The young longneck trotted back to the grassy field, where he found Markus staring up at the night sky, seemingly enraptured by the stars above. The human seemed so absorbed, in fact, that it startled Littlefoot when he began speaking to the young longneck, as if he knew he was there despite not seeming to register his presence. "This is so weird, isn't it? "I was in another universe just last night, and suddenly, just like that, I'm here, in this place. It's...well, it's a hell of a miracle."

Littlefoot smiled at him. "I think it's great you're here." he agreed. The young dinosaur paused for a moment "I think you could stay with me and Grandma and Grandpa tonight, if you want to. I don't want to leave you out here."

Markus looked over at him and returned the smile, internally incredulous that this dinosaur, of all things, whom he had only known for a few hours was already willing to take him into his home, just like that "Really?" he questioned in slight disbelief. When Littlefoot nodded, he answered, "Thanks. I'd like that."

Markus and Littlefoot went back to the nest, where Littlefoot's grandparent's awaited them. After HK-47 informed him that he and R3 would only need to power down to recuperate, Markus made his sleeping spot, choosing to sleep with his back to a tree, while Littlefoot slept in the nest. The young longneck smiled once more to himself as he closed his eyes. He had a good feeling about Markus, and felt that the past day was only the beginning of something amazing.


	7. Attacked at Thundering Falls

Markus awoke to the sight of the sun just rising over the distant mountains. He turned his head, and was surprised to see two enormous Brontosauruses sleeping just a few feet away! He was about to run, when the events of the previous day came back to him. Markus relaxed after remembering. Quietly, he walked off to the spot where he left the droids. On the way, he thought about the past day's events, and what he would do with his new circumstances.

_I could go back to the ship,_ he thought. Then he remembered the raptor-filled forest he and Littlefoot had run through on their way here and decided against it. _The people here seem to be peaceful, _he continued, _and the kids sure are great. I haven't been with kids since..._

He thought of the new Force abilities he had acquired. _I'm learning these abilities incredibly fast. Sure, I had prior knowledge of how to focus the Force, but how does that explain me? _As he approached the two droids, now standing in power-down mode, he decided that, as long as he had the Force, he would perfect his abilities as much as possible. This new land wasn't that bad. In fact, it seemed a hell of a lot better to him than his past life. _Who knows? _He thought as he activated HK. _Maybe this will be for the better._

Littlefoot awoke as the sun's rays gleamed over his skin, warming him. He got up, then looked for Markus. While his new friend was not in the vicinity, tracks not made by any dinosaur pointed to the Grassy Meadows. His grandparents were also stirring, yawning as they heaved their huge weight up. Grandma smiled down at Littlefoot.

"Good morning, Littlefoot. How did you sleep?"

"Great!" Littlefoot answered. "I was just going to find Markus."

"Well, you might want to bring him to the Thundering Falls" Grandpa said. "Grandma and I will be there today."

Littlefoot smiled back up at his grandparents "OK! I'll meet you down there!" he said as he ran off, following Markus' tracks. When he found Markus, he was confused at the unfolding scene.

HK had a blaster trained at Markus' outstretched hand, and Markus had set his lightsaber down a few feet away. HK fired before Littlefoot could react, and the red bolt slammed into Markus' hand. Instead of vaporizing it, however, the blaster shot was engulfed in a green aura in Markus' palm. Markus gasped, and he let the energy escape him as he sent the green light into the ground, where it quickly dissipated.

HK lowered the rifle. "I am nothing short of impressed, master. You have accomplished in days what many Jedi could not do in years. Absorbing a blaster shot with the Force is no easy feat."

Markus lowered his palm, then grinned back at HK. "This is amazing! I've never done anything like this!" He laughed, then added, "Thanks for the help, HK."

HK just nodded. Littlefoot approached, amazed at this new display of the Force.

"Woah! That was incredible!" he said to Markus. "I didn't know you could do that!"

Markus smiled, a little embarrassed. This kid really thought he was a hero or something. "Thanks, I just learned it this morning. Sorry I left, but I didn't want to wake you or your grandparents."

"It's OK." Littlefoot replied. "Hey, me and my grandparents were going to go for a swim at Thundering Falls. We were wondering if you wanted to come."

"Sure!" Markus answered. He was more than a little surprised at Littlefoot's acceptance of him. He then remembered he had nothing to swim in. Another thought crossed his mind.

"Wait a sec." he said as he rummaged through his pack. He pulled out what he was looked for. It was the pack of survival clothes he had brought from the ship. While he had only had room for the aquatic set, he felt it would do. He turned to Littlefoot. "OK, uh, I'm just gonna go change over there." he said, pointing to a convenient bush. "Don't move, OK?"

"Uh...OK." Littlefoot said. _What did he mean, "change"?_

Markus dove behind the bush, and in less than a minute he reappeared, now in a garment resembling a men's bathing suit. Littlefoot felt more confused than ever.

"Hey, what happened to your skin?" he asked. Markus had gone from having tan arms, blue legs, and a white torso to having tan all over his upper body and lower legs, with something orange covering his thighs.

"Uhhh, these are my clothes." he said, embarrassed. He had failed to go over the concept of clothes yesterday. "Clothes are a human's way of defending against the environment." He pointed to his real skin, showing the difference.

Littlefoot was still confused, but seemed to get the idea. "OK. You ready?"

"Ready when you are." Markus said as he grabbed his pack and lightsaber.

"You guys coming?" he asked the droids. R3-M4 beeped approvingly. HK hesitated, then replied, "Why not? I may be able to gather new data on our whereabouts as well."

"OK. We'll meet you down there." Markus replied.

"Great!" Littlefoot said happily as he took off for the Thundering Falls, with Markus right behind him.

When they arrived, Markus was taken aback by the beautiful scenery. His view was filled with a huge waterfall overlooking a crystal-clear pool surrounded by lush foliage. He saw Littlefoot's grandparents, as well as several other dinosaurs already in the water. Petrie sat perched in a tree, with Spike underneath eating, as usual. Ducky swam over, her body moving gracefully through the water. "Hey guys!" she said, jumping out of the water. Markus returned the greeting with Littlefoot, then looked around. While the scenery was pleasant, the looks on some of the other dinosaurs' faces were anything but. Their expressions ranged from uncertainty, which was present on the face of Ducky's mother, to outright disgust, as was the case with Cera's father, who had just arrived and was now muttering with the other adults about him. Cera came over to join the group.

Although Markus felt a little weird as the adults continued to stare, he shrugged it off and got into the water, where the rest of the gang was already swimming. Cera noticed his change in outfit, and he ended up having to go through the clothes explanation again. Markus' spirit lightened a little as he saw Littlefoot's grandparents allaying some of the other dinosaurs' qualms about him.

For the rest of the day, Markus and the gang swam under the rushing waterfall. Markus tried his luck at diving off a high rock, and the dinosaurs applauded in amazement as he attempted to Force jump into the air, twisting around to complete the dive. Ducky was particularly impressed by his skill.

"You could be a swimmer!" she told him. Markus blushed a little at the compliment. He got out of the water, and sat in the sun, trying to dry himself.

Finally, HK and R3 showed up. HK looked at Markus with his red photoreceptors. "I apologize for the delay, master. R3's secondary motivators were behaving abnormally. It took a while to repair it."

"No problem." Markus assured him.

R3 trundled to the edge of the pool to watch the scene. HK attempted to engage in conversation, but when he realized no one would speak with him, he decided to shut down, his head lowered while his body still stood motionless.

Up at the top of the falls, a sinister plot was unfolding. The pack of raptors, the same one that had ambushed Markus and Littlefoot in the Dark Forest, were beginning a bold plan. The white scaled leader snapped orders at the others.

Raptors, although nonsentient, were clever creatures, and they knew how to adapt. They had seen this newcomer, and his power made him a threat, a threat that must be destroyed before they could attack the herbivore-filled valley.

That is what they were trying to do now. The raptors pushed a boulder towards the edge of a cliff, where it would fall, and hopefully crush the invader. Then they would storm the area, killing and eating anything they could catch.

The raptors made the final push, and the boulder crashed down the cliff. The leader immediately ran down to begin the attack, the rest of the pack right behind him.

Markus heard the gasps of alarm, and looked up to see a huge rock coming straight down on him. Without thinking, he used the Force to halt the boulder just inches above him. But the strain immediately began to take it's toll on him.

_I can't hold this for long._ He thought.

Around him, raptors appeared from the brush and instantly began to corner their targets, mainly the old and the children, Littlefoot and his grandparents among them. R3 was also trapped, and since he had no weapons of his own, he could only screech shrilly for help. Markus watched helplessly as the raptors closed in on his friends. Then, he saw the answer. Littlefoot stood right next to his pack. Laying beside it was his lightsaber!

"Littlefoot!" he yelled above the chaos. "Throw the lightsaber!"

Littlefoot had watched Markus nearly the entire time, and when he heard Markus yell for the lightsaber, he quickly spied it on the ground, grabbed it with his tail, and hurled it over the raptors' heads at him. Markus watched the hilt fly through the air, and with great effort reached out his hand. He caught the lightsaber just as his Force grip on the rock was collapsing. Markus ignited the blade and swiftly sliced the boulder in two, watching the halves fall to either side of him. In a second, he looked and assessed the situation. The adults were doing a decent job of fending off the raptors, with Grandpa Longneck and Threehorn counterattacking at every opportunity. However, the gang wasn't so combat-qualified, and they were on the verge of being torn apart as the 3-man circle of predators closed in on them.

Markus sprinted towards his first target. He caught the raptor completely unaware as he sliced through it with a downward cut, the blade hissing as it burned through flesh. The second raptor was turning to him when the cyan blade beheaded him. The leader of the raptors, who was snapping at the adults, turned to see Markus killing the first raptor. The leader broke off and ran for Markus, who was in the middle of chopping the third raptor cleanly in half. The leader jumped on Markus' back, the raptor's claws leaving bloody holes in his back. Markus cried out in pain as the raptor jumped off him, and before the leader hit the ground Markus spun around and cut his left toe-claw off. The raptor glanced up, startled. Markus was just about to finish him off, when Littlefoot yelled, "Look out!"

Markus whipped around to see the others had broken off the attack. Most were fleeing into the woods, but one decided to try a flying leap at him. Markus deftly snapped his lightsaber hand up to smite the raptor to the ground. The leader chose this time to flee, dashing off into the brush.

Then, it was all over. A silence crept over the falls, with the only sound being the falls themselves and the hum of the lightsaber. Markus shut the blade off, and suddenly cheers began to ring out from the dinosaurs. Everyone crowded around him, thanking him for his valiant defense of their children. Markus just smiled, a little overwhelmed. Littlefoot and the gang came over, and they instantly started to applaud him as well.

"That was amazing!" Littlefoot said. "You just got a whole pack of Sharpteeth!"

"How'd you do that?" Cera asked, herself amazed.

"Like I said, I've had experience." Markus answered, still taken aback by the applause. "Besides, Littlefoot had to throw me my lightsaber."

In the commotion, R3 had manged to get over to HK to turn him back on. When HK saw the crowd around Markus, he was very confused.

"What did I miss?" he asked. Everyone laughed, further confusing him.

"I'll tell ya later." Markus replied, smiling. Littlefoot's grandmother bent her head down to Markus.

"Thank you, Markus. Thank you for saving our child." Markus blushed, slightly embarrassed. Littlefoot's grandfather's face suddenly went from joy to slight alarm.

"What happened to your back?" he asked, worried.

"What?" Markus said, unaware of the bleeding. He reached his hand back and, sure enough, there was blood. "Oh." he said a little too casually. "So I am." He turned to the droids. "HK, could you check for a dermal regenerator in the medkit?"

HK sifted through the pack, found the medkit, and pulled out a stylus-like device. He handed it to Markus, who held it over his back and turned it on. Blue light shone over the wounds, and they miraculously began to disappear. In a few seconds, they were all but gone. The dinosaurs were amazed.

"How did you do that?" Littlefoot asked the question everyone was thinking.

"Dermal regenerators use energy to speed up cell functions, including the healing process. I once built one, but it was never this small." He returned the device to the medkit.

"Simply amazing." Littlefoot's grandfather said, summarizing the afternoon.

When evening came, everyone left for their homes. Littlefoot and Markus said their goodbyes, then began to walk back to Littlefoot's family's nest, the droids following. Markus hung back with Littlefoot, and couldn't help but notice Littlefoot's grandparents whispering to each other up ahead.

_What were they talking about?_

When they arrived, Markus began to head off to the field he was at the night before, but before he did, Litttlefoot's grandfather stopped him.

"Where are you going? You don't think your going out there after today, do you?"

Markus turned back. "Where else can I go? The ship I came on is in a forest filled with raptors. I'm not going back there."

Littlefoot's grandfather chuckled. "Of course not. Actually, Grandma and I were talking, and..."

"We were wondering if maybe you could stay with us." Littlefoot's grandmother finished.

Markus and Littlefoot were amazed. "Really?" they both said in unison. "The droids, too?" Littlefoot asked.

"I don't see why not." Littlefoot's grandfather said.

Markus felt honored. These people had only known him for two days, and one action had convinced them to bring him into their family. Markus had never seen such trust.

"Thanks, Mr. And Mrs. Longneck!" he said, smiling.

"You're welcome." Littlefoot's grandfather replied, smiling down on the human. "And you don't have to keep calling us by such formal names. Grandma and Grandpa will do just fine."

"Thanks Grandpa...Grandma!" Markus said joyfully. He felt a happiness in him that had been buried for so long. He had a family again!

The Longnecks smiled at him lovingly. Soon they were all asleep, under a canopy of stars, which, to Markus, represented his new future, and all the possibilities that shone out before him.


	8. The past and convoy raid

It had been nearly a month since he had arrived, and news of Markus' arrival spread quickly throughout the Great Valley. Soon everyone was talking about him. Not everyone was happy about it, though. Some whispered nasty rumors about him, and a few even blasted Grandma and Grandpa Longneck for fostering this weird creature who fought with a beam of light and had powers none of them could explain. They felt he was a freak, something that was never meant to be in the Valley at all.

Rather than let the comments get to him, Markus shrugged it all off. He had a family, friends, the Force, everything. Besides, his image hadn't exactly been the focus of his life for the past six years. He spent his time with the gang, learning the Force, or sifting through the information in his datapad. He was greatly intrigued by the contents. He could literally pull up anything that had ever existed, all in the blink of an eye.

_This could really be handy. _he thought as he watched a scene from _Spiderman._ Add the capabilities of the holoprojector installed into it, and the datapad was a fine piece of hardware. While video games probably wouldn't work well on it, everything else seemed perfect. Food hadn't been a problem, as he'd switched from the power-hungry synthesizer to the local food, Treestars. Their odd flavor was strangely good, and Markus found himself switching over to them entirely.

As another day ended, the gang said their goodbyes and left for home. Markus and Littlefoot walked towards the nest, the sun already setting behind the mountains. Littlefoot felt something was off, though. Markus seemed a little distant, but Littlefoot also felt distant as well. Markus had never really explained where he had come from or what he had done before arriving in the Great Valley, and Littlefoot felt more than a little curious.

"Do you really want to know?" Markus said, startling him.

"How did you know what I was thinking?"

"It wasn't through the Force, in case you were wondering." Markus said. "You asked a lot about where I used to live today. That kinda gave it away." Markus sighed, then turned back to Littlefoot. "So, do you really wanna know? It's not pretty."

Littlefoot felt uneasy, but replied, "Yes.", feeling that he ought to know.

"OK, where do I begin? Well, I used to have a family. Can't remember too much now, but there was one thing I recall very clearly." Markus stared into Littlefoot, as if he was the memory.

"I remember the day they died."

_**Boulevard of Broken Dreams- by Green Day**_

_I walk a lonely road _

_The only one that I have ever known_

_Don't know where it goes_

_But it's only me and I walk alone_

_I walk this empty street_

_On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams_

_Where the city sleeps_

_And I'm the only one and I walk alone_

Markus began softly. "It was brutal. Terrorists, people who kill to make a point, had bombed the place where me and my parents lived. I heard the explosion and ran to see what happened. My parents scorched bodies awaited me."

Littlefoot suddenly jolted slightly as images filled his head, one of two burned humans, probably Markus' parents. Unsure of how he received the images, he could only sit and listen as the recollection continued.

_I walk alone, I walk alone_

_I walk alone, I walk a-_

_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me_

_My shallow heart's the only thing thats beating_

_Sometimes I wish someone out there would find me_

_Till then I walk alone_

"I went to the only person I could. His name was Professor Noah, a colleague of my father's. He took me in, but for the wrong reasons. He first decided to teach me using FlashTeaching, a process that hooks a neural interface into your brain. In a few hours, you've learned what would've taken many years of schooling to teach you."

"For two years I worked as his lab assistant, creating things anyone else would view as either futuristic or impossible. But we needed money to continue, so I became a delivery boy, taking these devices to their customers wherever they were. I was doing pretty good for a twelve year old, but then there was that one guy."

"He decided to pull a gun out on me in the alley he was in. I was lucky he was a lousy shot"

Littlefoot watched as the man with the gun shot at Markus, narrowly missing him.

"When the professor heard, he decided I needed combat training. In short, I became something like an assassin, trained to kill with whatever I had. I got good with guns early on, but that still wasn't enough. I had to be strong, fast agile. So I trained, and I worked hard. For three months I had nothing but water and nutrient supplements. I was becoming numb to pain, emotions- and myself."

_I'm walking down the line _

_That divides me somewhere in my mind_

_On the borderline_

_Of the edge and where I walk alone_

_Read between the lines_

_What's fucked up and everything's all right_

_Check my vital signs_

_I know I'm still alive and I walk alone_

Littlefoot saw Markus' memories, saw all the people who had died by his hand. There were so many...

"I killed because I had to, not because I wanted to. The professor viewed it as "stabilization". He justified it by saying that because the technology he created shifted power to others, the people who had the technology had to give it up or die. Usually it was the latter."

"Once I figured out he was using me, I nearly killed him. Then, I realized that I only had two options. I could kill the professor, but what would I get out of that? I ended up leaving him alive, and I convinced myself I only worked for him."

_I walk alone, I walk alone_

_I walk alone, I walk a-_

_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me_

_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating_

_Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me_

_Till then I walk alone(end)_

Littlefoot felt the visions disappear, and he looked back at Markus. "I had no idea..."

"Of course you didn't. How could you?"

Littlefoot felt compelled by Markus' story, enough to share his own inner sorrow. "My mother died, too...she was killed by a Sharptooth."

"I'm...sorry about that." Markus glanced down at the ground. "What about your father?"

"He has his own herd to worry about. I only just learned about him a year ago."

Markus looked Littlefoot in the eye. "Cherish the people you have left, Littlefoot. You are very lucky to have such good grandparents." He smiled a bit. "I suppose their my grandparents now as well as yours."

Littlefoot smiled back. "You know, we're not so different."

"Yeah, I guess we are pretty similar."

They both continued back to the nest, where Grandma and Grandpa were waiting. They nuzzled each of the boys in turn, and they smiled down at their sons.

"Goodnight Grandma. Goodnight Grandpa." they both said in unison.

"Goodnight, boys." Grandpa said lovingly.

Darth Malak sat cross-legged in his private meditation chamber on the Star Destroyer _Broadsword_. Once he was removed from the cloning vat, he had been brought here and told to wait for his first assignment. During the wait, he had built his new red-bladed lightsaber, and it's ivory-white handle adorned his new red robes.

He had a hard time believing he was really alive, at first. Not to mention the huge time change that had occurred since he had last been among the living. In his first life, Darth Malak took the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith during the Jedi Civil War. Before taking the name Malak, Alek Squinquargesimus, nicknamed Squint, was a famed Jedi Knight and military commander.

During the Mandalorian Wars, Alek gained a reputation as a headstrong warrior who would recklessly charge into danger. He drew closer and closer to the dark side, ultimately being seduced by Sith teachings imparted to him by his closest friend, Revan. In his role as Revan's chosen apprentice, Darth Malak helped his Master track down the devices that led to the Star Forge and contributed to the establishment of a powerful new Sith Empire, one that would go on to challenge the fragile Galactic Republic and Jedi Order both.

After having "killed" his Sith Master by double-crossing him during a battle, although the man who was Darth Revan was taken by the Jedi and turned back to the light side, and usurping his mantle in 3,957 BBY, Malak ruled the Sith unchallenged, brutally conquering territory after territory and taking an apprentice of his own, a former Jedi named Darth Bandon, and later the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan, who later returned to the Jedi with Revan. His reign of terror was finally ended when Revan, now a redeemed man, returned to the forefront of galactic events, and defeated him in a climactic lightsaber duel aboard the Star Forge, an ancient artifact of the dark side.

Malak, though kept from using the Force on his captors by the infernal ysalimiri, the worm-like creatures that could somehow block the Force, had his private chamber built so that he could practice Battle Meditation, a Force power that allowed the user to control fleets and armies, to coordinate them through the Force, and lead them to victory.

That was what he was doing now. He had only a single Star Destroyer and an Interdictor vessel under his command, for that was all the Empire could spare, and the Republic convoy had nearly twice as much firepower. But he had the Force. And that was all that mattered.

The Interdictor's globe-shaped gravity-well generators activated, and the Rebel fleet was instantly dragged out of hyperspace in front of the battle group. The expected cargo ships were flanked by two New Republic Assault Frigates and no less than a full wing of K-wing flying fortresses. This would be challenging.

Malak spread his consciousness out to the wing of frail, mostly unshielded TIE fighters, interceptors, and bombers that had left the Broadsword. He felt every pilot's mind, and suddenly it was like seeing through all their eyes. He had the fighters and interceptors go after the K-wings first, with the bombers staying behind to assault the frigates. The Star Destroyer would then split the two frigates, delivering broadside attacks that would surely destroy them. That would leave the unarmed cargo ships safe for boarding and plundering.

Was it pathetic? Of course it was. Malak hated leading his ships on "pirate raids", a task that was beneath a Sith Lord and worthy of a weakling and a coward, but it was necessary to rebuild this once powerful Galactic Empire to Malak's expectations.

After Moff Thalus was killed, of course.

The TIE fighters and Interceptors screamed in towards the K-wings, battering their shields with unprecedented firepower, darting around like crazed hornets. The K-wings juked and dived, their blaster turrets firing back at the enemy fighters, the pilots desperate to evade the fighters so their torpedoes could disable the Interdictor and allow the convoy to escape. The TIE starfighters rolled and dodged so swiftly, however, that it was nearly impossible to hit one. They moved as one, complimenting each others strengths and weaknesses, alerting each other to danger before it appeared, all their actions aided by the Force. Red and green laser fire filled the surrounding space as the TIEs flew circles around the slower craft, their laser shots burning through the wings and fuselages of the bombers. The K-wings exploded under the fire, their pilots vaporized. Cheers rang out on the comline from the pilots, this being their first victory in months.

While the fighters engaged in their dogfights, the assault frigates began to move in on the Interdictor. With it destroyed, the convoy could escape. But right as they entered firing range, however, the Broadsword rushed in to shield the ship. The assault frigates fired upon the warship, turbolasers wearing down the glowing blue shields.

The Broadsword's gunners shot back, salvos blasting away at the Republic ships. To add to their misery, Malak chose that moment to launch the bomber attack. The TIE Bombers launched their torpedoes, and on impact the combined force of the first wave was enough to tear the first Assault frigate in half with a huge explosion. The other frigate followed suit.

And then, as soon as it had started, it was over. The shattered hulks of Rebels ships floated through space. Malak confirmed only three fighter losses in the whole five minute battle. Bulk Freighters lumbered through the debris, running even though they had no chance of escape. Darth Malak walked slowly out of his meditation chambers, pleased that he was still combat worthy, savoring victory.

Malak made his way to the Star Destroyer's auxiliary hangar and stalked up the ramp of his personal shuttle, a Lambda -class, its unmarked white hull and triple folded wings gleaming in the hangar light. He was off to board one of the transports and fight these Rebels. He watched out the window as the shuttle descended into space, unfolding its wings, then observing the Star Destroyer disable the cargo ships with it's ion cannons, the ion blasts sending blue lightning playing across their hulls and shutting down power systems all across the freighters.

When he arrive, he strode through the smoke-filled halls, confidence radiating from him. His stormtroopers had already boarded the ship, and were busy fighting the Rebel guards. Blaster fire rang out amongst the shouts of soldiers, but it was apparent the Republic soldiers were doomed.

"Orders, sir?" a stormtrooper captain asked upon his arrival, his voice made artificial by the white helmet.

Three New Republic soldiers suddenly burst out of an adjacent burst out of a doorway, apparently attempting to launch a surprise attack. Yet before any of them could fire a shot, Malak's hand shot out, releasing a storm of Force lightning. The Dark Lord reveled in the release of hatred, the destruction of his now helpless enemies. The soldiers fell to the ground screaming, and they died after a few seconds of pain and spasms.

Malak turned back to the stormtrooper captain, his voice hissing like a snake. "Leave no survivors. I want everything in these ships in Imperial hands." Then he stepped down the rest of the hallway to search for stragglers, or anyone who dared to challenge him.


	9. Arrivals and Battle at the Green Meadow

Malak stood ominously in front of Moff Thalus, his form dominating the Broadsword's bridge. After his first few attacks against the New Republic, Thalus had seen his potential and given him more authority. Malak was now Thalus' second in command, and practically controlled the entire Imperial fleet. Thalus now called upon his assistance more and more, using his Force abilities to rebuild the Imperial war machine.

"Ah, Lord Malak." Thalus said casually, his face momentarily coming up from the computer screen he was looking at. "I have good news. Our agents on Wayland haver finally found what I've been looking for." He pointed out a dot on the mapscreen. "This, my Sith friend, is one of Emperor Palpatine's secret bases. The late Emperor built these to house his many armies and forbidden technologies. While the ones on Byss and Wayland were destroyed, our spies have found a datacard in the rubble of the Wayland facility that shows this is the location of the third base. The data on it was fragmented, but this system in the Unknown Regions appears to hold items that were outmoded after the Clone Wars. It could contain battle droids, old warships, perhaps even clones themselves-along with several Sith artifacts."

Malak was now intrigued by the Moff's findings. "Can you confirm it?"

Thalus grinned smugly back. "We're sending a probe droid to the third planet. We should be getting telemetry momentarily. "Just think, Malak. If all goes to plan, the Empire will be back, stronger than ever."

Malak looked back at him. The only way this Empire will ever be strong is when fools like you stop leading it, he thought. Before he could leave the bridge, Thalus called back to him.

"Lord Malak, there is one other thing I'd like you to see."

Malak stalked over to the viewport where the Moff stood. "Allow me to introduce the ultimate weapon of our time." Thalus said, gesturing out the window. What Malak saw made his eyes widen in interest. A huge construction, dominated by a large weapon that appeared to be the central focus of the 38-kilometer long gunbarrel-shaped battle station outside the viewport.

"I give you- the Galaxy Gun, one of the greatest weapons of our time!"

Markus had been in the Great Valley for about a month and a half, and life couldn't be better. He had a family, friends he could talk to, and, best of all, he had Littlefoot. Add to that the droids and the Force, and his life was looking pretty good. But it wasn't perfect. The matter of only having his jeans, a white T-shirt, and the prepackaged clothes from the Ebon Hawk made clothing difficult. Then there was the Valley itself, particularly its inhabitants.

While most of his friends' parents(with the exception of Mr. Threehorn) liked him because of his actions at Thundering Falls, the vast majority of the Great Valley viewed him as a freak, something that didn't belong in the Valley in the first place, which they voiced behind his back on numerous occasions. While Markus didn't usually care what people thought, he felt that he needed to convince people that he wasn't the bad guy. His efforts at Thundering Falls, while effective, only affected a small percentage of the population. For him to truly convince everyone, he would need something big to happen.

Before the sun rose, Markus went out to practice the Force and train with HK like he usually did. It went well, but just before Markus turned to head back to the nest where Littlefoot and his grandparents were, HK stopped him. "Master, I have some...interesting news. Yesterday R3 scanned each of the children with his medical scanner."

"Yes?" Markus asked. He remembered it, too. Littlefoot and his friends had asked him about R3's hardware, and the scanning was part of the demonstration.

HK lifted the datapad up to Markus' face. "These are the results." Markus stared at the medical screen for a long moment, then realization dawned on him.

"They can all use the Force?"

"Yes, Master, it does appear so. I had R3 discreetly run the scan on others in the Valley. It seems every sentient being in this area, perhaps on the entire planet, has some degree of Force sensitivity."

Markus thought hard. If they all could use the Force, they all could become Jedi, but he was no teacher, and it was unlikely at this point that any of them would wish to be trained." Keep this secret, at least for now." he instructed the droid. "There might be a time for them in the future, but not now."

On this particular morning, Markus, Littlefoot, their friends, and Grandma and Grandpa stood waiting for the visitors that were scheduled to arrive today. The sun shone down on the land and the wind rippled through his hair as Markus watched the huge herd of dinosaurs that came in from the huge canyon that served as the gateway to the valley. This particular herd seemed bigger than usual.

"Master, who are these newcomers? " HK-47 asked as he methodically scanned each one for threats, of course finding none. Before Markus could answer, Littlefoot answered it for him.

"Hey, do you guys notice anything about this herd?" Littlefoot asked. "They seem familiar."

Ducky nodded in agreement. "They do, they do."

"Yeah, I was thinking that, too." replied Cera. Suddenly, Littlefoot looked closely, and found not one, but two familiar faces in the crowd.

"Hey! That's my Dad! And that the Old One! That means Ali is here, too!" he said. Littlefoot practically jumped out of his skin. His dad and Ali in the same herd, coming at the same time? This was almost too good to be true!

Markus watched as Littlefoot ran over to greet a large Brontosaur who he could assume was Littlefoot's father. Another Brontosaur child stood at his feet, his skin a dark green. Markus had heard of a child that had met with Bron, whos name was Shorty. "He's a little rough, but he means well." Littlefoot had told him. Littlefoot began talking with Bron and Shorty as soon as they met, then Littlefoot lead him over to where Markus stood.

"Dad, Shorty, this is Markus. He's the one I told you about." Littlefoot said. Markus smiled politely back up at Bron, then at Shorty, who stared at him, wide-eyed. "Nice to meet you. Littlefoot says a lot about you two."

"Uh...hey." Shorty replied, baffled. What is that?

Bron hesitated for a moment at the strange creature before him, then continued. If he was good enough to be Littlefoot's friend, he was good enough for him. "Good to meet you too, Markus. Littlefoot must think very highly of you if you're his friend."

Markus blushed slightly at the comment. "I'd like to think so." he replied.

"I'd talk more, but the Old One and I have things to discuss with the Valley elders." Bron said, and he walked over to where a circle of adults were convening. The gang came over and exchanged greetings with Shorty. Shorty eyed Markus suspiciously.

"So," he started, a rough tone entering his voice. "what exactly are you?"

"I'm human, and it's kind of a long story." Markus replied. "But," he added "if you want to hear it, I have the time." Shorty offered a small smile back at him, pleased at the openness.

"OK." he answered. Markus prepared to tell his whole story again, when suddenly a voice was heard behind the group.

"Hey guys!". Everyone turned to look at who it was.

"Ali!" the gang shouted. Everyone, except Markus, rushed forward to greet her.

"It's good to see you, Ali! Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky said.

"Me glad to see you too, Ali!" Petrie added.

"Wait, Ali, there's someone I want you to meet." Littlefoot turned her towards Markus. "Ali, this is Markus."

"Hey." Markus said casually."I've heard a lot about you as well." Ali hesitated for a long moment, staring at the strange being before her. Who was he? What was he?

"He's a Jedi!" Littlefoot said, trying to break the tension.

"What?" Ali and Shorty asked, confused.

For the next few minutes, Markus answered all of Shorty and Ali's questions. The gang caught up with each other, and both Shorty and Ali had told their stories to Markus, and vice-versa. It turned out that Ali and Bron's herds hooked up some time ago, so Shorty and Ali were already well aquainted. As they talked, Markus found himself enjoying Shorty's company a lot, what with their lives being so similar. When the droids showed up, new questions arose, but all throughout the conversation, Markus felt that Ali was avoiding him subtly. Whereas Shorty was bold and honest to a fault, Ali was shy and seemed to be hiding herself. The signs were small, but visible: she wouldn't look him in the eye, she glanced down a lot, that kind of thing. He knew it probably was his humanity that confused her, and for once he didn't know how to respond to it. Just when things were getting awkward, Grandpa Longneck called him over to the group of adults. Bron spoke first.

"We saw this weird flying rock land near the valley." he said. "It burned bright red, and it crashed near the Great Wall. We were wondering if you could tell us anything about it."

Markus thought for a moment. It sounded like a meteorite, but if it hit the Great Wall, the natural wall of rock that separated the Great Valley from the Mysterious Beyond, whatever it was might have punched a hole in it, allowing predators to sneak through. "It sounds like an ordinary meteorite." he replied. "Was anyone close enough to the landing sight to see it?"

"I saw it, too." Petrie's mother added. "The ground smoked where it hit, and I heard a strange whirring sound as I flew over." The crowd whispered and conversed with one another. Markus was puzzled at this strange occurrence. Because these people were incredibly primitive by modern standards, they probably couldn't give him that good of a description. He knew he had to check it out for himself.

"I'm going to go check this out." he said to Grandpa Longneck. "It won't take long. It's probably nothing."

"Alright, but be careful." Grandpa warned. Markus left the circle of adults and walked back to where the gang was still talking to Ali as if he'd never left. He waited for a lull in the conversation, then spoke.

"Grandpa Longneck asked me to check out a meteor that hit the ground near here." he said, diverting everyone's attention. "You guys want to come?"

"Sure!" Littlefoot said. Everyone else chimed in, but Ali was silent. "You want to come Ali?" Littlefoot asked.

She shuffled uncertainly. "Ummm...sure." she said. The gang set off across the fields, reaching a dense forest, searching for the thing. Markus led the group, with HK and R3 to his left and right, respectively. When they reached a point near the Wall, Markus had everyone split into groups to search for it. Shorty paired off with Markus, the droids were a pair, and so on. Littlefoot volunteered to pair with Ali, and instantly ran off to search. Ali, however, was trailing behind, and Littlefoot went by to see what was wrong.

"Everything OK, Ali?" he asked her.

Ali looked down at the ground, then back up at Littlefoot."Littlefoot, who is Markus?"

Littlefoot felt confused as he answered "He's a human, from another universe. Why are you asking me? He already told you."

"I know, but is that really where he comes from?"

Littlefoot stopped in his tracks. "You think he's lying?" he asked her, both amazed and disturbed by her distrust of Markus. The dirty look he gave her made Ali feel a little ashamed. In a moment, however, she regained her composure and continued.

"How could he possibly be from another universe? Maybe he just made all of that up. I mean, he's not even another dinosaur, Littlefoot! He could be some new sharptooth. Maybe I'm wrong, but it sounds to me like you barely know this guy! I...I just feel like he's going to hurt you, Littlefoot. Either that, or he'll change you so much you'll never be the same."

A voice sounded from behind Littlefoot. "OK, what the hell is the problem?" Littlefoot and Ali both jumped at the sound and turned to look at Markus, who, by the look on his face, had heard everything. Shorty followed behind, as confused as everyone else. Before anyone could explain, Markus jumped in. "I was sure there was a reason behind your attitude toward me. I guess this is it." His tone went from angry to confused as he continued. "I only have one question for you, Ali. Why do you think I'm the bad guy? What have I done to you?"

Ali was about to reply, when shouts echoed through the forest. "I found it, master!" HK said loudly. Markus gave Ali a hard look.

"This isn't over." he said. Shorty looked back at Littlefoot with a torn expression on his face.

"He does have a right to know." he said to Littlefoot and Ali before following Markus to the site.

They ran towards HK and R3, where the rest of the gang was already grouped. The sight that greeted them was horrifying. The thing had smashed straight through the Wall, shattering it and sending rock everywhere. It had slammed into the ground, simultaneously burning a clearing through the forest.

"Oh no." Ducky whispered. If the Wall had been breached, predators could've come in, destroying the peaceful existence of the Great Valley's residents.

Shorty's jaw dropped at the sight. "Woah." he said, unable to find words.

"What happened?" Cera asked, staring open-mouthed at the destruction.

"Look at the wall!" Littlefoot said. "It's been destroyed! We've got to tell the elders. Who knows how many sharpteeth have already gotten in!"

Markus walked down the trench the cosmic invader had burned into the ground. At the end, an ovoid shape rested in the ground. It had cracked open somehow, and, to his surprise, the innards of the rock were clearly circuitry."What the hell..." he mumbled. Petrie flew over and knocked on the thing. It clanged when he hit it. HK was puzzled as well.

"It's metal." he infomed, scanning it. What could this capsule hold? HK thought as he continued scanning. R3 suddenly whistled loudly, swiveling his dome in alarm.

"What did he say?" Littlefoot wondered aloud.

"There is something moving less than 10 meters towards the southeast." No sooner had HK spoken when everyone heard a distinct whirring sound, followed by buzzing. Markus peered into the green trees at the edge of the burnt clearing, and suddenly, he saw it. It was black and floating, and also appeared to be metal. He was about to move in for a closer look when it opened fire with a blaster.

On board the Broadsword, Malak and Thalus watched the view screen intently at the sight of the human. He seemed young, and he was accompanied by two droids and multiple specimens of the indigenous species. Malak felt something in the back of his mind, like he knew the boy, long ago. The face... he thought, ...could it be him? Before he could so much as think, however, the boy looked over to the brush where the Infiltrator probe droid was hiding. The noise from it's engines gave its position away.

Thalus grinned at Malak. "Apparently we weren't the only ones to find this hidden system. No matter. This nuisance will soon be gone." And with that, he gave the order for the probe to open fire.

Markus whipped his lightsaber out of his jeans pocket, igniting it just as the probe opened fire. Red blaster bolts burned the air. He tried to deflect them back at his attacker, but the probe droid burst out of the brush and into open view. It was nearly 2 meters tall, with at least eight different arms. Littlefoot, Ali and Shorty, and the rest of the gang dove for cover as the probe strafed the ground where they'd been standing. It darted through the air, avoiding Markus' attempts to kill it.

HK shot it twice, but the bolts merely burnt it's armor, and the probe's attention was momentarily diverted as it fired back, barely missing HK's bronze head. Markus quickly saw the opportunity and hurled his lightsaber at the droid. The blade sliced it in half, and the probe exploded in a ball of flame. Markus called the blade back to his hand and shut it off, the hum ending abruptly.

Everyone slowly raised their heads in the smoky slience and looked up at where the probe was, then at Markus. "Wow..." was all Shorty could say. Everyone else was speechless at the sudden attack and the following explosion. Before anyone could move, a low rumble was heard outside the ruined wall, followed by a roar.

"Oh God." Markus muttered. If that's what I think it is, he thought, I'm dead.

In the Valley, the raptors had regrouped and were in the woods, preparing for the final assault. The leader felt he had prepared for everything this time. He had gathered every raptor he could possibly find in the Mysterious Beyond, and his force now numbered in the dozens. They would be unstoppable.

To further increase their odds, a flying rock had destroyed a segment of the Great Wall, allowing them to rapidly enter undetected. Now, the Valley was doomed. Even if the raptors had to retreat, the Valley dinosaurs would never be able to patch the hole, and wave after wave of predators would seep in, spreading death and destruction.

The white-scaled one glanced down at his missing claw, and vowed to himself that, no matter what, he would personally kill the one who maimed him, at any cost. That would be his victory. As the time of attack drew near, scouts informed him that the newcomer had left the center of the Valley. He growled at the assembled carnivores to begin the attack. They sped off, and the leader growled in anticipation.

He would have revenge.

All that could be heard was a rhythmic thump as Markus and the gang looked back at the breach. Out of the fog and smoke came a huge head, with six-inch teeth sticking out. At the sight of them, the T-rex roared and charged at the nearest person it saw, which happened to be Markus.

"Look out!" Littlefoot shouted. Markus flung himself out of the way just in time, and the T-rex missed him and Shorty took the oppourtunity to trip the beast, sending it slamming into a tree. Growling, it turned around, preparing for another strike. It chose a different target this time. Snarling, it charged at Ali. Ali could only scream as the toothy maw came closer and closer.

"Ali!" cried Littlefoot. Just as she was sure she was dead, a wail rang out from the Tyrannosaur, followed by a hiss. Markus had jumped on its head and driven his lightsaber directly into its brain. The T-rex lurched forward and fell to the ground with a thud.

Shorty, astounded for the umpteenth time that day, gazed at Markus with an awestruck look. "You're incredible!" he said excitedly. "I've never seen anything like you!"

"Yeah, I know. You did pretty good, too" Markus replied, panting as he walked off the T-rex's stabbed head. He looked over to Ali. "You OK?"

"Yes." she managed to say, stunned into silence by Markus' act.

Markus then glared back at the carcass of the T-rex. "Ugly bastard." he muttered. Then, he heard shouting.

"Guys!" Littlefoot cried as he stared down at the valley, horrified."The adults! Their getting attacked by sharpteeth!"

"Come on!" Markus shouted. They ran through the forest, towards the battle that had just started in the Valley. A storm had massed over the battleground, and fog had already begun to cling to the ground.

When they finally reached the meadows, they glimpsed the unfolding fight. The adults had formed a wall between the rest of the Valley and the raptors, who were slowly advancing. A raptor was flung skyward as Bron swung his huge tail at it. It slammed into the ground and didn't get back up.

"We must stay and fight!" Grandpa Longneck shouted, trying to rally everyone.

"Yes!" Threehorn added. "This is our home! We will defend it!"

"What did I miss?" Markus asked when he and the gang reached the adults.

"These sharpteeth came out of nowhere!" Threehorn said angrily.

"They probably came through the breach in the Wall." Markus said.

"What are we going to do?" Ducky's mother said worriedly. "We can't fight all of them!"

"We have to do something!" Shorty cried as he watched the sharpteeth move claser and closer.

Markus stared at the advancing raptors. He knew what he had to do. "You can't." he said. "But I can."

Everyone stared at him, astouded and appaled. "You can't!" Threehorn said, shocked at human's audacity. "Look at all of them! There must be-"

"Dozens of them? Hundreds?" Markus finished his sentence. "I know that!" He turned to the awestruck crowd. "I've spent my whole life fighting one thing or another. The fact is, I'm the only one here with any chance of success against them!" Markus looked at each dinosaur in turn as he spoke. "This is just as much my home as yours now, and if I have to die to keep it safe, so be it!" He turned back to the group." HK, stay behind and give me cover fire." He stared HK down, his eyes flaming with adrenaline. "Keep them safe." HK simply nodded, replying "I will, master." Markus pulled his lightsaber out and began to walk out into the fog.

"Wait!" Littlefoot called out. There was no way he could do this! he thought in despair.

Markus just looked back and smiled grimly at him. "I'll be back." he said. He continued walking, the fog almost completely shrouding him from view.

Hells Bells by AC/DC

Markus walked through the shadows. One by one, his enemies came into view. They moved closer and closer, snapping their jaws and cackling, but Markus stood his ground. One snapped and jumped at him, and his lightsaber came on with its signature snap-hiss. He impaled it in midair, allowing the body to fly by him. The battle began.

I'm rolling thunder, pouring rain

I'm comin on like a hurricane

White lightning's flashing across the sky

You're only young but you're gonna die

I won't take no prisoners, won't spare no lives

Nobody's putting up a fight

I got my bell, I'm gonna take you to hell

I'm gonna get you, Satan get ya

Hell's Bells

Yeah, Hells Bell's

You got me ringing Hells Bell's

My temperature's high, Hells Bell's

Markus whipped around, slashing his lightsaber at the sea of raptors that engulfed him, using the Force to attack others. More dashed past him, moving to attack the elders. Threehorn charged and gored them with his horns, while Grandpa Longneck slammed them with his tail. Soon every dinosaur was fighting for their lives, fending off carnivore after carnivore. HK mowed them down with his blaster, and R3 attacked any who got close enough with his array of blades and cutting lasers. Markus' lightsaber hummed and hissed as he mutilated raptor after raptor. He decapitated one, and the blue blade burned its way through the legs of another. The smell of ozone and burnt flesh filled the air, and dead raptors soon piled around him as the fight raged on.

I'll give you, black sensations up and down your spine,

If you're into evil you're a friend of mine,

See my white light flashin' as I split the night,

'cause if good's on the left, then I'm stickin' to the right.

I won't take no prisoners, won't spare no lives,

Nobody's puttin' up a fight,

I got my Bell, I'm gonna take you to Hell,

I'm gonna get ya, Satan get ya.

Hell's Bells,

Oh, Hell's Bells,

You got me ringing Hell's Bells,

My temperature's high, Hell's Bells.

Markus slowly felt his energy being drained away as he fought. He Force pushed two raptors away from him, only to have four more attack. His swings became slower, his brow was covered in sweat, and soon he was nearly defenseless.

The dinosaur's predicament was grim. The waves of raptors began to jump on the backs of the adults, tearing their flesh out. Screams of pain echoed throughout the Valley. Threehorn became pinned and was being overrun as he thrashed aroud, blood flying everywhere. Rain began to fall as the elders began to retreat. Littlefoot and the gang were soon left exposed and were trapped by the raptors as well. The droids was encircled by ten of them, and HK and R3 both screamed as they experienced the droid equivalent of pain as the raptors bit into circuits, tearing past the metal plating.

A drained Markus was thrown to the ground by a pounce from the lead raptor, his lightsaber tumbling out of reach. The raptor cackled and dug its remaining claw into the flesh in his collarbone. Markus screamed in pain, and suddenly, sights of the battle filled his mind. He saw Littlefoot and the gang, about to be torn apart. While Littlefoot and Shorty were fighting for their lives, they would soon fall. He saw the elders, who were almost being eaten alive, Threehorn and his grandparents included. He saw evil coming down on his new home, the one he had worked so hard to protect.

I won't take no prisoners, won't spare no lives,

Nobody's puttin' up a fight,

I got my Bell, I'm gonna take you to Hell,

I'm gonna get ya, Satan get ya.

Hell's Bells,

Oh, Hell's Bells,

You got me ringing Hell's Bells,

My temperature's high, Hell's Bells.

Markus felt the anger well up inside him. It turned to hatred when he thought of the raptors destroying his home. The raptor lifted its claw out of his collarbone, and before it killed him, it had a moment of confusion at the look on its victim's face, which was one of smugness. Markus had felt fear, anger, and hate, all in that single moment. There was only one more part in the painful equation. Now I will show you suffering! Markus thought angrily.

An explosion of red light flung the raptors away from Markus' body. He extended his hand as he stood, and wrenched the life out of two of them, using their energy to heal his wound. Lightning flew from his hands in his rage, electrocuting every raptor in sight. Flame seemingly sprung from the ground at the feet of raptors, burning them alive. Everyone turned to watch in fear and awe as he destroyed the raptors, his lightsaber now back in his hand, burning through air and bodies alike in deadly patterns. Rain flowed down his newly healed face as he used the lightning to burn the nerves out of his enemies, enjoying the slaughter.

Yeow!

Hell's Bells, Satan's comin' to you,

Hell's Bells, He's ringing them now,

Hell's Bells, the temperature's high,

Hell's Bells, across the sky,

Hell's Bells, they're takin' you down,

Hell's Bells, they're draggin' you around,

Hell's Bells, gonna split the night,

Hell's Bells, there's no way to fight, yeah!

Ow, ow, ow, ow!

Hell's Bells!!

Markus cut them down in a fury. The remaining raptors tried to kill him, but to no avail. A raptor who attempted to jump on his back felt its neck break under his grip. He stabbed and sliced them, hatred burning inside him, and soon the few who lived tried to retreat. His lightsaber flowed through the air, a deadly blade of light, destorying enemy after enemy in increasing complex and brutal ways. Then, as it seemed to be over, Markus spied the leader, trying to scamble away after his loss. Markus laughed grimly and hurled his lightsaber at it. The raptor was flung to the ground, the look of surprise still pasted on its face.

Then, as quickly as the battle began, it was over. Every raptor was dead, their bodies littering the meadow. The rain had stopped, but the clouds still hung in the sky, casting the silence in gray. Markus, breathing heavily from the exertion, shut down his lightsaber. He yelled up at the sky in his fury, and raised his hand. A red glow engulfed all the dead raptor's bodies, and the disintegrated through the Force, their bodies turned to ash.

Markus suddenly felt very drained. He staggered back through the clearing fog. Everyone stared at him in awe and wonder. Ali felt awed and afraid at the same time as he staggered foreward. Shorty and Littlefoot just gazed at him in pure wonder. Markus looked up at them, smiled slowly, and said, "It is finished."

Then the blood drained from his face, and he collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.


	10. Movies and Bounty Hunters

Markus was alone on a plain of gray, the only thing standing in sight. Everything here felt choppy, like in a slow-motion film. He looked around, bewildered at the silence. He uttered the only thought that was going through his mind.

"What the hell..."

"Very good." a snakelike voice echoed behind him. Markus whirled around to see a black masked figure standing there, watching him. Markus tried to look closer at the figure's face, but the shadows eclipsed it from view. It spoke again.

"You have finally discovered power! Now you know where your true destiny lies. Come, join me, and I will show you more of your potential."

Markus felt entranced by the voice. It had offered him power, destiny, many great things in that one sentence. He felt ready to accept the shadow's offer, then something in his mind exploded.

"No." he said calmly, surprising himself. He knew this...being was evil, and although he knew not what its intent was, he knew it couldn't be good.

"Be careful," it hissed. "for we are more alike than you know." For a moment, the shadows relented around its face, and Markus glimpsed the mask. He saw a definite resemblance to Darth Vader, but it was different. Could it be a Sith? Before he could hypothesis more, the shadows shrouded the face in mystery.

"We are one and the same, Jedi. Refuse me, and you will seal your fate."

Markus felt a growing fear in him. This thing knew him somehow, and intended to make him its apprentice in evil.

"No." he repeated. The figure stiffened, angered.

"Then die, fool!" Lightning flew forth from its hand, engulfing Markus. He felt pain, and knew no more.

"Ahhh!" Markus jerked forward, his brow covered in cold sweat. His vision focused, and he saw Littlefoot, the gang, Ali, the droids, his grandparents, and several other dinosaurs all staring down at him with relieved looks on their faces.

"You're alive!" Littlefoot said, smiling. Markus looked around at everyone, utterly baffled.

"What...what happened?"

"Master," HK began in his usual monotone. "you have been unconcious for 3 days. You just now started thrashing in your sleep."

"Your body was so cold, we thought you were dead." Ali said, quietly looking at him with a mix of awe and shame, the shame from not trusting him and the awe from the battle in the meadow. Shorty grinned at Markus, once again amazed at the human's tenacity and skill.

"I guess that was a little premature." he said wryly.

"I...passed out." Markus said, slowly remembering.

"Yes, right after you fight off all the sharpteeth!" Petrie chimed in.

"It was amazing!" Cera said. "I've never seen anyone fight like you!" She blushed and glanced at the ground, embarrassed.

Markus' confusion spread even further. _Did Cera just give me a compliment?_ he thought.

"What about the wall?" he asked, sitting up..

"The adults patched it up already!" Ducky reassured him confidently. "No one will ever get in that way!"

Markus then asked the question that worried him the most. "How many casualties were there?"

His grandparents looked at each other and smiled. "No one was badly hurt. Those droids of your sure do know how to patch us up. We're fine." Grandma said, allaying his fears.

"And it's all thanks to you." Grandpa added. "That was a very brave thing you did. People here will remember it for a long time."

For the rest of the day, Markus recuperated with the gang, who couldn't seem to get off the topic of the Meadow Battle, telling him what a fight he put up and how sharpteeth could never again invade the Valley as long as he was here. Shorty and Ali got to know him better, and, at Shorty's request, Markus agreed to show him some moves. As they walked through the Valley, numerous other residents congratulated him on his victory, even Threehorn, who applauded his fighting skills. While Markus was glad he had managed to fend off the raptors and save the Valley, his methods of attack were questionable.

_Well, _he thought, _at least something good came out of this._ Everyone now seemed to respect him and acknowledge him as a person. He had finally achieved his goal of changing his image in the Valley. But it was Bron who bestowed upon him his title, saying, "Kid, you were amazing out there. You might as well be the Great Valley's guardian or something." The Great Valley Guardian name stuck, and soon people came to call him the Guardian for his heroic and daring battles against the sharpteeth. Littlefoot remembered the dream he had before Markus arrived, and he remembered the figure calling himself the "Great Valley Guardian". It seemed that the figure had be right about everything.

Markus spoke to HK briefly about the probe droid, asking him about any information on it. "It appeared to be of Imperial design master, but other than that, I was unable to find any data regarding it or its commanders. We can only assume something is on this planet that's not supposed to be here. Something important. By the way," HK added. "I took the liberty of running the same scans on Ali and Shorty. Apparently they too can use the Force. I don't understand it either, master. It's as if everything on this planet is infused with a high midi-chlorian count." The news greatly troubled Markus, but he decided to leave it be, for now.

Night fell, and soon everyone had gone home, Shorty going with Bron. Littlefoot and Markus had volunteered to walk Ali home, and they journeyed under the starry sky. Just when they were almost to the spot where Ali's herd was, Ali stopped and turned to look at Markus.

"Markus..." she began. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted like I did. I guess you just...well..."

"I know, Ali." Markus replied. "I was the unknown, and you didn't know what my intentions were. It was a perfectly natural response, if a little insensitive."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." she agreed, blushing. "I know your life hasn't exactly been good..."

"You told her." Markus said to Littlefoot. Before he could even protest, Markus spoke again. "Relax, Littlefoot. It's no big deal." He turned back to Ali. "Thanks for trusting me."

Ali just smiled back at them. "See you guys later." she said. Then she ran over to her waiting mother. Littlefoot and Markus began to walk back, but before they reached home, Markus stopped.

"Littlefoot," he asked, "what happened during the meadow battle?"

Littlefoot looked back at him, confused. He related all of the events, particularly the unleashing of the Force when all seemed lost. Markus' face became grim as the memory flooded back. Littlefoot was puzzled by Markus' reaction. "Isn't it a good thing that you won?" he asked.

Markus sighed, then looked at him forlornly. "It wasn't the victory that was the problem. It was how I achieved it that was bad. I dug into my hate and I slaughtered them, every last one. I wrenched the life out of them, and I gave into anger." He looked Littlefoot in the eye. "Never give into anger, Littlefoot. It tears you apart. When I was adopted by you guys, I swore that the pain and evil from my old life would never ruin this one. I came dangerously close to the dark side in that battle, and that is never a good thing."

Littlefoot watched Markus walk towards home, going over his words. His friend was a true anomaly, something that could never be fully explained. He had more emotions than anyone he'd ever seen, and yet he could be so calm and calculating. Littlefoot resolved to learn more about what Markus said as he followed him back. Soon they were both asleep as the night wore on.

Over the next few days, Littlefoot felt happier than ever. Markus was back, and, after much deliberation, Ali's herd leader and Bron had decided that they would now be permanently living in the Great Valley! Life was better than ever! Littlefoot sat with his friends under the shade of the trees, talking with his friends about all the current news in the Valley. Littlefoot looked over at Markus, who was sifting through his pack looking for something.

"What're you looking for?" Shorty asked, confused at Markus' frantic search.

"Here it is!" he cried triumphantly, pulling out his datapad. He turned it on and scrolled through the data, the light playing across his face.

"What are you doing?" Littlefoot asked as the gang crowded around the screen. They all gasped at the moving picture, which showed ragged humans running through stone-covered land, with huge tall rocks rising out of the ground.

"Oh. I'm just scrolling through movies." Markus replied. He turned on the holoprojector, creating a moving image roughly five feet by 3 feet hanging in the air.

"How did you do that?" asked Cera, amazed as she watched the movie.

"Movies are actually a bunch of pictures strung together with sound." explained Markus. "The pictures go by so fast, it looks like they're moving. It's like a story, but it feels like you're there."

"Cool!" Shorty said, impressed at the technology.

"What other ones do you have?" Ducky asked, still gazing at the screen above.

"Oh, God knows how many." Markus replied smiling. "Actually, I was considering trying something out with this."

"What?" everyone asked, their interest piqued.

"Well," Markus began. "since we found that probe droid, I thought that you guys might want to know more about this universe. So, I found the Star Wars movies in here. I figure that tonight, perhaps we could show the first one, and then the next night we'll show the next one, and so on. It'll be like a movie night or something."

Ali grinned. "I like the sound of that. Who should come?"

"Anyone who wants to." Markus replied. "Might as well spread the word."

So, they all went off to spread the word about the "movies" to their parents, first agreeing that it would be shown in the Meadow, where there was enough space. When Littlefoot and Markus showed their grandparents the technology, they were enamored, and Grandpa assured them that they would be there.

Soon, the entire Valley was talking about the show, which started at sundown.

While the gang handled publicity, Markus had to work out the technical problems. He finally figured out a way to project a large enough screen by having R3's holoprojector work in tandem with the datapad's, creating an image roughly 20 by 20 feet.

Next came audio. Knowing that the datapad's audio would never suffice, Markus enlisted the droids as speakers, where they would use their vocabulators to create a feeling of stereo sound. While R3 was willing, Markus had a hard time enlisting HK, but he eventually succeeded. Finally, since the dinosaurs could not read English, Markus had HK also program in synthesized voices for the openings and the alien translations.

Soon, the sun had fallen, and everyone was crowded into the meadow, eager to see the moving pictures. Markus gazed out at the crowd, then went over to the datapad.

"Here goes nothing." he said as he pushed play. A hush fell over the audience as the movie started.

It was nothing short of an instant success. He captured everyone's minds as the movie played on. Over six nights, the Valley learned of Luke Skywalker, the farmboy from Tatooine, saw the fight against the Empire firsthand, watched the Death Star blow up Alderaan, and then the Death Star itself blow up from Luke's proton torpedo shot. The stories seemed to captivate everyone, and by the time Episode III ended on the last night, everyone understood everything a little bit more, and they went home with a changed perspective.

"Wow...that really happened?" Cera asked when it was over.

"Yeah. Crazy, isn't it?" Markus added.

"Are you kidding?" Shorty replied, awestruck by the battles he had seen. "That was incredible! Those were probably the best movies I ever saw!"

"I think they were the only ones you've seen!" Ali said, giggling.

"I don't get it, though." Ducky said. "Why did you show us four, five, and six first? It was out of order."

"Well, that's the way I saw it," Markus said. "I felt like one, two, and three were supposed to come afterwards."

"But Luke and Han and the others? They really up there?" Petrie asked, pointing at the night sky.

"I guess so, if I'm correct about this universe." Markus replied

"I wonder if we'll ever get out there." Ali wondered.

Markus smiled at her. "Who knows? You just might."

Thalus and Malak both stared at the probe's last transmission on the Star destroyer bridge. As soon as it opened fire, the boy had pulled out a lightsaber, and, to Thalus' great surprise, destroyed it. Thalus leaned back in his chair. "It appears he was more trouble than we thought."

Malak wondered aloud. "If he is a Jedi, I doubt any conventional means can kill him easily."

Thalus frowned, then his eyes suddenly brightened. "Then we'll just have to be unconventional." he said. "Navigation, plot a course to coordinates 320 mark 222 mark 871." Malak recognized the coordinates as those of the Unknown system. " Engage at speed 5."

"Speed 5?" Malak said, baffled. "It will take days to get there! We could arrive in less than 5 hours at maximum speed!"

"Of course, Lord Malak. But for starters, we still have no idea if the facility is even there. Anyway, we still must deal with the new threat. I need time to contact a bounty hunter. He will be much deadlier than one measly probe."

Malak grunted. "What bounty hunter is so great that he can kill a Jedi?" Malak scoffed. Thalus turned and sneered back at him.

"I personally want the Jedi captured, if possible. The hunter's name is Fett, and I assure you he's supremely qualified...if expensive."

Hey! I added Shorty in as an additional character, so you might want to read 9 and 10 again! Please read and review!


	11. Boba Fett!

Boba Fett gazed out the window of Slave I through his helmet visor. While not one to reminisce often, he found himself sifting through his experiences, evaluating his life as he gazed at the stars. Through his fifty-four years of life, Fett had gone from a clone orphan to the best bounty hunter in the galaxy in seemingly no time at all. He had gotten every quarry he'd ever been charged with- he captured Han Solo, turned in the Butcher of Montellian Serat, killed the spice trafficker Hallolar Voors, even destroying not one, but three of the infamous IG-88 assassin droids. He had fought and outwitted his way out of every jam- all except one. And that particular blunder was the worst event of his life.

He had taken Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, to Tatooine to get his bounty from Jabba the Hutt. After vaporizing IG-88C and D in their failed attempt to steal Han Solo from him, Fett had relaxed, thinking that, at least for the the moment, he was safe. His suspicions had been aroused when a Ubese bounty hunter showed up with none other than Chewbacca, Han Solo's infamous Wookie copilot. He was equally confounded when the bounty hunter was revealed as Princess Leia, who, although succeeding in freeing Han from the carbonite, was captured by Jabba and turned into a slave girl. He hadn't believed she would've been up to the task. Then, as if to complete the group, who should show up but Luke Skywalker, number one on the galaxy's Most Wanted list. Boba Fett would never forget the young Skywalker striding into Jabba's courtroom and demanding Han and the others be released, as if he owned the place. Naturally, Jabba had him dropped into the rancor pit to die a gruesome death, but against all odds, Skywalker lived, killing the beast.

Jabba was furious. In his rage, he ordered Solo and Skywalker to be executed at the Pit of Carkoon and fed to the Sarlacc the following day. Fett was appalled at the stupidity of the decision-why not turn Skywalker over to the Empire and reap the rewards?-but went along on the Sail Barge anyway. As Boba Fett watched from the deck in the hot sunlight, his failure began to unfold.

The Sarlacc's maw gaped open as Skywalker was prodded onto the board extended from the skiff. Skywalker had jumped, but to everyone's surprise, had turned in midair and pulled himself into a flip as he sailed over the unsuspecting guards. Skywalker reached out his hand, and his lightsaber fell neatly into it, launched from Skywalker's droid, R2-D2. The green blade sprang to life, and the battle began.

Skywalker slashed and swung his blade at the guards, one of which revealing himself to be Lando Calrissian, Han Solo's longtime friend and ally. Fett, spying the half-blind Solo and the preoccupied Skywalker, blasted into the battle on his jetpack. Skywalker's quick reflexes cut his blaster in half and foiled his plan to shoot the Jedi in the face. Fett quickly immobilized Skywalker with his whipcord, and would've had him if Skywalker hadn't deflected that random blaster bolt into him from one of Jabba's thugs. Fett momentarily dazed, got to his feet and, seeing Skywalker on the other skiff, lined up his wrist blaster. In that moment, he had come incredibly close to killing the last Jedi in existence. But then, who should save the day but Han Solo, Fett's nemesis. Upon hearing Fett was in the battle, Han spun around, slamming his vibro-axe into Fett's jetpack, igniting it. Fett was sent sprawling into the side of the sail barge, and into the Sarlacc.

Most think Fett died after that. He wished had once he felt the Sarlacc's pain. Only his armor kept him alive inside it. In actuality, Fett constructed a bomb and blew the Sarlacc up, saving his life. Or what was left of it. His ship had been impounded by the Alliance, his armor corroded and rusty, his body scarred by the Sarlacc's fluids. Fett had wandered out of the Dune Sea, off that forsaken planet, and worked to rebuild his life.

Years passed. The Alliance, now the New Republic, drove the Empire back, first from Coruscant, then from the Core itself. The fragmented Empire tried again and again to defeat the Republic and make itself whole again, but they had failed. Only an Emperor could lead the Empire. And he was dead, killed at Endor by none other than Darth Vader, the Emperor's right hand man. The majority of the Imperial Remnant had even signed a peace treaty with the New Republic, and only a few outlying systems dared to be openly hostile towards the Republic.

What that meant for Fett was one thing: less work. Bounties dried up left and right, old employers died, and the galaxy was being taken over by Jedi and pacifists. Fett actually missed the Empire. He missed the action, the glory. Hell, he even missed the bad times, too. And if he could do it all again, he was damned sure he would. The only thing that remained left was his project...

The comm panel came alive, beeping and blinking its red lights over and over. Fett reached over to answer it, tapping a button. It was only a text message, but the information contained in the encoded message was interesting. It read:

THIS IS IMPERIAL MOFF THALUS TO BOBA FETT. I HAVE A PROPOSAL FOR YOU THAT I'M SURE YOU WANT TO HEAR. BOUNTY IS 1000000 GALACTIC CREDITS. MEET AT COORDINATES 234 MARK 664 MARK 275 IMMEDIATLY.

Fett leaned back in his chair. It seems the Empire required his services. His first thought would be to decline, seeing the Empire had fallen so quickly in the past two decades. But the sum of the bounty made him reconsider. A million credits was a hefty sum, and he definitely needed the money with the shortage of work. He set a hypercourse, and _Slave I_ disappeared in a flicker of psuedomotion.

Besides, it'd be just like the old days.

Fett stood on the Star Destroyer bridge, listening to Thalus drone about the target, Malak standing to his right, silent. The assignment was pathetic: he was to go to some Unknown Regions planet and search for some long-lost facility containing Clone Wars war machines, all for the price of a million credits. _And I thought Jabba was a fool._

"So I go to this planet, learn the location of the facility, secure it, and transmit coordinates back to you." Fett said, recapping the 15 minute long briefing. "Sounds easy."

"Fett," Thalus said, "the Emperor never hid his facilities easily. It's probably cloaked. You may have to search on foot. And it's probably fraught with traps."

Fett rolled his eyes behind his helmet. Moffs were so incredibly stupid. "I'll be careful. I expect payment up front."

Thalus handed him an opened box filled with credchips. Fett glanced at the box, then back at the Moff and the Sith Lord. _If he's really a Sith, _Fett thought, _things have really gone downhill. "_ I'll be at the planet in a day and a half. I'll contact you afterwards."

"Good" Thalus replied, clasping his hands together. Fett walked off the bridge and into the turbolift, thinking that this was definitely not like the old days. Thalus watched as Fett departed in _Slave I._ Malak's restraint finally broke.

"What were you thinking?" he practically yelled, spitting out the consonants. "You didn't even tell him about the Jedi! And you gave away a million credits! All to find this one base that we could've found ourselves!"

Thalus looked back at Malak, a cool expression on his face. "I didn't tell him because I want to test him. If he's still good, he'll complete this mission and kill the Jedi in self-defense. Then we'll be able to hire him later for harder jobs."

Malak snorted. "With that Galaxy Gun and a new Imperial fleet, bounty hunters won't be needed anymore."

Thalus continued, ignoring him. "I also wanted him to disable any traps in the base. It's better to waste an old Mandalorian than our finest troops. And the Jedi would've still been a problem." He looked back at his troops. "We will follow him onto the planet, but stealthily. Your meditations seem to see this Jedi as a decent-sized threat to our new Empire anyway, and I'd like to dispose of him as easily as possible. You'll get your chance, my friend."

Malak said nothing, simmering. He hated being this small man's underling. He cursed the infernal ylasmiri, which were placed throughout the ship in key points, including the bridge. Someday, he would kill Thalus and unite this Empire to destroy the Republic, the foe he had fought for so long. Someday, he would revive the Sith and destroy the Jedi Knights. 

_Someday, _he thought, _will be soon. Very soon._

Markus leaned back against the tree, the sunlight warming his skin. Littlefoot and his friends were off playing in the Meadow, the same one that, about two and a half weeks ago, had been the site of his battle with the raptors in the Mysterious Beyond. The meadow had been purged off all bodies, and the breach in the Great Wall sealed. He was thinking about his dream, not just the one he'd had after he passed out after the battle, but a few days after that. He heard a young woman and a man speaking, but he couldn't see them. He recalled their words:

"They say the Force can do terrible things things to you." the man had said. "It can erase your memory and destroy your very identity. It can change you from one person into something totally different."

The woman spoke next. "The Jedi do not believe in killing their prisoners. No one deserves execution, no matter what their crimes."

Time seemed to warp, and Markus heard an almost passionate urge in the woman's voice when she spoke next. "What greater weapon is their than to turn an enemy to your cause, to use their own knowledge against them?"

The dream had the abruptly ended, and Markus found himself pondering their words. The voices sounded familiar, but where were they from? And more importantly, what meaning did the words have for him? He could only wonder, and, at least for now, decided to file it away in his mind. He stood up and began to walk back towards the gang, when an old voice stopped him. "Guardian, might I have a word with you?"

It was Mr. Thicknose, the resident know-it all in the Great Valley. He was one of the elders and, while a good person, had his share of problems. But that was awhile back, and he had be credited as the oldest and most knowledgeable in the Valley. He was one of the first who had identified the droids as being artificial, and had fought in the Green Meadow against the raptors. Markus turned around and replied, "Sure, and, uh, Markus is fine with me.", embarrassed at the use of his unofficial title.

"I was just going to ask about the movies that you showed. They were really quite interesting, but I was a little confused at times. I was hoping you could clear a few things up."

"Sure, whatever I can." Markus answered question after question, and soon a crowd had gathered around them, listening on Markus' insights into human culture. Markus' popularity had taken a 180 degree turn after the meadow battle, and now everyone seemed more and more eager to learn of his kind. He saw the gang and the droids in the group as well, Littlefoot giving him an admiring look. 

He answered another inquiry, about the instruments in human music. "Well, there are many instruments used in music, depending on the type. I played the electric guitar, but that's mostly used in rock. Then-" A loud crack echoed across the Valley. Everyone went silent as the sound swept over the crowd.

HK turned his photoreceptors toward Markus. "Master, if I'm not mistaken, my audio receptors identified that as blasterfire, possibly from a rifle or other personal weapon. It would seem that something-or someone-has entered the valley, most likely from off-planet."

"You mean they're from space?" Shorty asked, baffled at the explanation. The longneck's question made the crowd gasp and whisper amongst themselves, a feeling of dread sweeping the assembled dinosaurs. Grandpa Longneck quieted them down and spoke.

"Please, let's not get too excited. If the sound is a weapon, it could be this being is dimply defending itself as Markus does with his lightsaber. It could be some wayward traveler."

Threehorn snorted. "But what if it isn't? What if it's some new death machine coming to our Valley? It could be a serious threat!" Others murmured in agreement.

Bron spoke up. "We can't be sure of anything at the moment. No offense to you HK, but is it possible you interpreted the sound wrong?"

"I suppose," HK huffed, irritated at the dinosaur's questioning of his auditory capabilities. "but I'm rarely wrong about such things."

Markus looked slightly worried, anxiety showing on his face. If someone else had found this planet, what would happen? Would the galaxy discover yet another planet of sentient beings? What would happen then?"Still, I should check it out, just in case it's a danger."

There was a murmur of agreement in the crowd. Grandpa smiled. "Then it's settled. The "Guardian" will investigate who or what has come to the Valley, and deal with it as needed." The crowd dispersed, and Markus grabbed his pack off the ground and turned to the gang. "You guys are coming, right?"

"Yeah!" they all chimed. The droids agreed as well.

"I believe the sound originated in this direction." HK said, pointing towards the forest. The group set off in that direction, walking through the dense brush. They found themselves in a dense, forested part of the valley, on the northwest side going up the steep terrain, with little to mark their path. The first sign of trouble, however, was on one of the trees by a nearby cliff. 

"Yep, it's definitely an energy weapon." Markus observed as he looked at the burns on the tree. Three black holes, still smoking, attested to the recent discharge of a weapon. R3 warbled to confirm the analysis. 

"But I still don't get it." Littlefoot said. "If someone is here, where's their ship? How did we not see them?"

"Yeah." Shorty chimed in. "And these are still smoking. This person's got to be close by." 

Fett's macrobinocular-equipped helmet zoomed in on the human, accompanied by the same sorts of creatures that inhabited the planet and two droids. After landing a few miles away and blasting a few of the predatory inhabitants, he had found the source of the energy signature: a huge cloaked thing that extended maybe 3 miles below ground and at least 25 miles outside the Valley. Fett reckoned it was a base, but what did it hold? 

He had been looking for an entrance when he spied the boy. Normally Fett would have sneaked by, but the lightsaber on his belt automatically made him a target. Jedi were nothing but trouble, and deserved to be eliminated. Fett aimed his blaster sight on the boy, and tightened his finger on the trigger.

Markus went out and stood near the edge of the cliff. If someone was here, things could get very bad, very fast. He looked out at the valley, then across the small chasm, thinking. A glint caught his eye on the other side, and he saw a very familiar helmeted figure, with a blaster aimed at his position. He had just enough time to yell "Get down!" before a blaster bolt hit the ground adjacent to him, the blast echoing through the Valley.

Everyone ran as fast as they could, desperate to escape the forest, where they had no support or visibility. "What was that?" Ducky yelled, jolted by Cera's running. Everyone else gasped out the same question as well.

"We're really screwed now!" Markus replied back. "Unless I'm mistaken, that was Boba Fett!"

The gang ran out into the open fields. The elders had already mobilized, and were in a line across the meadow, calling out to their children. Just as they were about to reach them, a roaring sound was heard, and Fett's jetpack disengaged as he fell to the ground, rifle in hand, drop-kicking Markus in the process, who was in the back of the group. Markus grunted in pain and fell, and he jumped back up just in time to ignite his cyan blade and slice Fett's blaster rifle in two the barrel hissing as it was burned away. Fett had already reacted , however, and Markus' lightsaber clattered to the ground after a quick disarmingkick by the bounty hunter.

Littlefoot and the gang ran back to the adults, getting as far away from the fight as possible. "What's happening?" Ducky's mother shrieked.

"That's the guy!" Littlefoot replied, breathless. "He's the one who came here!"

"What do we do?" cried Grandma as Markus was backhanded in the face by Fett's armored glove.

"We can't do anything!" Bron said urgently. "He's still got blasters in those holsters, and while a couple shots might not do much to something our size, he could fire on the kids. Besides, Markus could still beat him."

Markus spun around and slammed his fist into Fett's neck, one of the only vulnerable parts his armor didn't cover. The crowd watched the fight in horror as Markus received a kick to the jaw for his efforts. HK aimed his blaster, but couldn't fire because of the combatants' close proximity. Blood flowed down Markus' face as he took punch after punch, and suddenly Fett was hurled several yards away in an instant by a quick Force Push. Fett quickly recovered, rolling and jumping back to his feet. Markus tried to Force Pull his lightsaber back to his hand, but Fett launched a whipcord at his hands, tying them together. "Shit!" Markus gasped as he was yanked from the ground as Fett activated his jetpack, Markus' lightsaber still on the ground .

"Come on!" Littlefoot shouted as he grabbed the lightsaber started after Markus, who was being dragged through the forest towards the Thundering Falls. The gang followed, the adults not far behind. Markus dangled from the cord as Fett flew through the trees, slamming into tree after tree, cursing after each hit. By the time he was out of the forest, his body was horribly bruised and cut, his clothes ragged. The cord snapped, and Markus landed on the rocky overhang of the Falls, below which a 60 foot drop waited.

Fett landed just twenty feet away, and Markus watched, stunned as Fett aimed two shiny silver blaster pistols at him. It was all he could do to dive away just before the red energy darts screamed through the air where he was. He landed hard on the rock, and he felt Fett aim at him again, and just as he knew Fett was pulling the trigger, a voice shouted, "Heads up!" 

Markus turned to see none other than Shorty, who, at the last minute, had tackled Fett to the ground. Fett swore in Mandalorian, diving for his pistols. Littlefoot and the rest of the gang had also ran up the cliff with Shorty, while the elders, most being too old or slow to climb up, waited at the bottom of the Falls anxiously, wincing at the loud blasterfire above. "Catch!" Littlefoot shouted. Markus deftly sprang to his feet and caught the lightsaber hilt. The blade sprang to life just as Fett grabbed his weapons. Fett fired again and again from his prone position, and Markus had to concentrate all his efforts on blocking the hailstorm of bolts, deflecting them off into the surrounding forest.

"Damn," Shorty said, using a curse he heard Markus use as the brawl wore on. "This Boba Fett guy is good! How's Markus gonna beat him?"

Littlefoot looked on, wincing at every loud whine of Fett's pistols. "I don't know, but if something doesn't happen fast, I think he's gonna win!"

"Why don't we just go out and tackle him again?" Cera growled, stamping her foot in exasperation. She hated not acting. "We outnumber him six to one!"

"No, Cera." Littlefoot said, anxiety washing over him. "We'll just get shot, and what good will that do?"

Markus deflected bolt after bolt, but Fett slowly move forward, step by step. When Fett was within ten feet, he shouted, "Give up, Jedi! I've won! You and these beings can't beat me!"

Markus glanced over the overhang, to the Falls below, and got an idea. "You know," he shouted back in a mocking tone. "I think I will!" He deflected one last shot, then backed off the cliff. Gasps from the crowd echoed over the raging waters. The gang was stunned speechless with horror, and could only watch as Fett walked to the edge and gazed over, searching for Markus' body.

Fett got a kick to the head, his helmet falling off his head and down the Falls, where it clattered loudly onto the ground, thrown clear of the water. He lost his balance and fell, but not before grabbing Markus' foot and dragging him down from the underside of the overhang, where he had held on to save him from the fall. They both dropped to the ground, Fett's jetpack allowing him to gracefully land without injury. Markus, on the other hand, grabbed one of the vines hanging off of the surrounding trees, and swung back to the ground, landing crouched position.

The crowd quickly parted as the combatants immediately faced each other again. Fett, who lost one of his blasters in the fall, still clutched the other one in his right hand. Markus reignited his lightsaber, all the while thinking of a way to end the battle, preferably with Fett alive, since he could tell him more about the outside galaxy and what he was dealing with. He watched Fett's battle-hardened face, saw the scars and the lines, the fury in his eyes. _He will never give up. _Markus thought. _He's Mandalorian, and they never back down from their enemies. So how do I get him to stop?_ He searched his mind for the answer all throughout the half-second it took for Fett to draw and aim his blaster. Then, just as Fett was pulling the trigger, he had it. _I must go from his enemy to his friend, or at least someone who he won't kill on first sight._

Fett's first shot was nearly deadly, Markus deflecting at the last possible second, twitching the lightsaber to intercept it, all the while constructing his plan in his mind. Fett fired again and again, and since the distance between them was much shorter this time, only about 15 feet, his shots became much harder to deflect. Fett lashed out with his wrist flamethrower, the fire burning the air. Markus leapt over the wall of fire, landing 10 feet behind Fett, his plan now securely in his mind. _I just hope it works. _He thought. 

Fett tracked his jump easily, and had the blaster already trained on Markus by the time he landed. Markus, in a surprise aggressive move, dodged the bolt and flipped sideways towards Fett, lightsaber buzzing through the air. Fett fired off one last volley-and the second and third bolts struck home.

Burns appeared in his jeans and shirt where the shots had impacted. They hit him one at a time in the torso, one stopping his momentum and the other flipping him onto his back. A flash of green emanated from the impact points as he fell, then disappeared as he hit the ground, unbreathing. Cries of shock and anger rang out. The droids tried to shoot Fett now that he was out in the open, but Fett whipped an ion blaster off his belt. In 1 second and two shots, both droids lay on the ground, deactivated.

"Nooooooo!" Littlefoot yelled, tears forming in his eyes. In his anger he began to charge Fett, but Fett aimed his blaster at the small dinosaur, unfazed at the aggression.

"Littlefoot!" his grandparents and the gang cried simultaneously. At the sound of their voices he skidded to a halt, just feet away from the armored bounty hunter. Fett's cold stare bored into him as the Mandalorian slowly lowered his blaster. Silence had fallen over the crowd again, with disbelieving stares turned towards the Guardian's body. He turned to Markus' body, which now lay limp on the ground. Fett examined the burns, then kicked the body lightly, as if to see if it was dead. He gazed at the boy's face, and muttered under his breath "Why are they always kids?". He then saw the lightsaber still in Markus' hand, and he knelt down to take from his grasp, perhaps to commemorate the kill, or honor the dead. Either way, Fett reached down to grab it. 

Just before his hand could take the lightsaber, Markus sprang to life. He punched Fett in the face, sending the hunter reeling from the surprise blow. In a flash he had slammed his lightsaber hilt on Fett's head, bringing him to the ground. Before Fett could even react, the blue blade had already been ignited and was a hair away from his neck. He looked up to see Markus, grinning satirically down at him.

"Never, ever take my lightsaber." he said triumphantly, blood still smeared on his face. Cheers and gasps of amazement rose from the Great Valley citizens at the quick table-turning done by Markus. Littlefoot gazed on, once again amazed at Markus' skill and quick wit. Then he looked at Fett, who was still on the ground, the cold look pasted on his face. Something wasn't right about him being in the Valley.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.


	12. Our most desparate hour

After the initial euphoria of the fight had passed, Markus and the Valley elders had Fett placed under guard, mainly by the droids, who didn't require sleep or nourishment and could function for a long period of time without shutting down. Fett was pulled to his feet and taken to the Tall Trees, where his droid guard stood, blasters trained on him. Fett didn't speak at all, and with his helmet off Markus saw a look of resignation on his face, maybe even shame. His helmet lay exactly where it had fallen, the visor turned ominously to the sky. The rest of the Valley citizens had followed Fett back to the Tall Trees, forming a crowd just outside the trees to decide on what should be done. The gang followed Markus back as well, full of unanswered questions. Littlefoot glanced at Markus' face, which still had several cuts and bruises on it from Fett, then at the burns on his clothes. Markus seemed especially solemn, perhaps because of what the implications of Fett's appearance could mean, both for the Valley and for himself. He said nothing as he began treating his wounds.

Then came the questions. The Valley inhabitants wanted to know exactly who Fett was and why he was here, and they fired off one question after another at Markus, who was still treating his wounds.

"Everyone, please." Grandpa said, trying to quiet the crowd that had gathered around Markus, who was using his dermal regenerator to treat a bruise. "Let's give Markus some time to recover."

"It's fine, Grandpa." Markus said, turning to the crowd, his voice seeming to shroud his battered state. He answered the crowd in a calm tone. "I'm not sure I can tell you much, but I'll do what I can."

Bron was the first to speak. "Why do you think Fett would come here? I don't think anything here would really interest him."

Threehorn snorted. "Except for one human..." he muttered, directing his anger towards Markus. The crowd seemed divided by that last statement, unsure of whether to be appalled at Threehorn for his remark or suspicious of Markus because of him presenting a possible reason for Fett to attack.

Markus gave Threehorn a cold look as he replied,"If you want to know what Fett's after, Threehorn, why don't you ask him?"

"I would if I knew he'd answer me!" he shot back. "No one's been able to get a word out of him!"

"Then the obvious course of action would be to get him to talk." Markus answered coolly, packing away the dermal regenerator into his pack and rising from the rock he was sitting on. "I'm going to see what I can get out of him, but it probably won't be much."

"He poses a danger to us all!" someone shouted. "He should be driven out of here and back where he came from!" Others murmured in agreement.

"And what would that do?" Markus said, still unnaturally calm, his mind now engrossed in strategic logic, his thoughts moving at hyperspeed. "We would lose any information he has about our situation, or who hired him, or an number of things. Has it occurred to you he might know something about that probe droid? Or have you forgotten about that as well?"

The crowd was silenced, and the meeting broke up soon after. The gang, who were unusually quiet during the proceedings, followed Markus back to where Fett was being kept. Littlefoot felt the sense of imminent danger inside him increase, and he knew it had something to do with Fett. Why else would the mysterious bounty hunter come to the valley, except to do something that involved killing?

Boba Fett, helmet-less and deprived of weapons, leaned against a tree in the small patch of forest he was being held in. The droid guarding him, who identified himself as HK-47, hadn't so much as shifted his aim in over half an hour, his red photoreceptors locked onto Fett. The other droid, a red-white R3 unit, simply sat motionless, as if waiting for something, it's indicator lights flickering. Aches and pains still echoed through his body, the bruises and scrapes acting as signs of the brawl he'd just been in. He remained silent as he heard the sound of footsteps, and the Jedi-kid and the little band of natives that followed him appeared from behind the trees, no doubt back to question him again. Fett found it extremely odd that the natives could speak Basic, a Galactic language that was the primary form of communication in both the Republic and the Empire, and by now he had narrowed it down to two options: either the Jedi had taught it to them, or the Empire might've done it while the were building their fortress, which lay cloaked somewhere in the Valley. And with the Emperor's or Darth Vader's powers, it wasn't hard to believe that he could've just driven it into their skulls, throwing out the old language they might've been using. Perhaps their knowledge was used to build the cloaked fortress he was searching for.

The kid and his friends came nearer, and HK swiveled his head and began to speak. "Master, I don't think-". The boy held up his hand to silence the droid, and the R3 ceased its twittering as well, returning to its former position. The group sat in a semi-circle around Fett, but said nothing, their plan to get Fett to talk still going through each of their heads. When Littlefoot had originally thought of it, the idea had seemed stupid, but with further consideration, Markus thought it might work. The silent treatment was an old trick, but Markus figured his fight fire with fire strategy could work on a man like Fett.

And so they sat, and waited. Minutes ticked by in the silence, and nothing was heard except the rustling of leaves and the sound of the midday breeze flying through the air. After nearly ten minutes, Fett, for a reason he could not explain, broke the silence. "I knew they weren't telling me something."

Everyone looked up, stunned as Fett continued thinking aloud, his face a scarred tempest worn by battle and time. "A million credits for a blue milk run! And the Empire's pretty devoid of resources as it is."

"So the Empire hired you?" Littlefoot asked, his curiosity piqued by Fett's wondering. Fett turned to face him, and Littlefoot felt like cringing as he laid eyes on him.

Fett hesitated, wondering whether to continue, then answered, "Yeah, they hired me. I suppose you'll know what happens eventually."

Markus stood up from the stump where he was sitting and eyed Fett. "What happens eventually?".

"I was hired to find a secret facility that's somewhere in this Valley. It's cloaked, so obviously you haven't found it yet. It contains weaponry that dates back to the Clone Wars, some even later. The entire system's filled with old battleships, floating around in protective drydocks. Battle droids, Jedi and Sith libraries, starships, it's all there. I even heard there were clones, locked up in stasis. It's one of the late Emperor's secret warehouses."

"I was supposed to secure it, then report back to the Star Destroyer. Then, they would land here and take everything. Even if I don't report back, they'll land here in no less than a day and a half, maybe two."

Everyone's eyes widened. "WHAT?" they all yelled in unison. R3 squealed, his status indicator turning bright red.

"They'll land outside the Valley, somewhere where they won't be spotted." Fett continued. "Just in case you were still alive, I'm guessing." He pointed to Markus, who was still in shock from the news of the Imperial landing and was staring at Fett with an expression of sheer horror etched into his paling face.

"Why did you tell us?" Ducky said after a moment of shocked silence, her curiosity getting the best of her. "You could've just waited for the Empire to arrive, then left with them." Fett actually cracked a smile at her question.

"I doubt it. The Empire doesn't tolerate failure, never has. And with that new Sith in a leadership role, I doubt I'd get any mercy."

"Who?" Markus demanded, his anxiety coming to a climax in his mind. "Who's the new Sith?"

"I don't know much about him, but the commander on the Star Destroyer mentioned his name." Fett looked up at Markus, feeling the dread flow from him.

"He said his name's Darth Malak."

The gang left Fett, the droids staying behind to continue guarding him, the dread now a universal feeling amongst them. When they told the elders, things went from bad to worse. Panic took over, with everyone trying to figure out how they could survive. They knew very little about the Empire, or evil of any kind, but they knew how the Empire would treat them. If they weren't killed for sport like animals, they'd be enslaved, forced to serve the Empire forever.

The citizens of the valley were divided, with some wishing to leave the Great Valley immediately, and others who wanted to stand their ground and protect their new home. A shouting match quickly began as the emergency meeting in the that had been called to decide what would happen in light of the news of impending invasion, with the dinosaurs who wanted to leave accusing the opposing side of not thinking of their own safety, and the ones who wished to stay accusing the others of being cowards and unloyal, all with the kids and Markus trapped in the middle.

"Quiet!" Bron yelled suddenly, reducing the crowd to whispering. "Now I know we're being faced with a danger none of us has ever faced before, that threatens everything we know, but I'm asking you to be reasonable with each other!"

"How can we?" someone shouted back. "Half of us wish us to stay here and be destroyed!" Others agreed, yelling out their approval.

"Coward!" another shot back. "You would run from anything! We've faced dangers before and we'll do it again!" The crowd erupted into shouts once again, with every dinosaur determined to drown out the other.

"What about the human?" Threehorn bellowed, turning everyone's attention to Markus instantly. "From the moment he came, things have gone from bad to worse!" The crowd turned their anger on Markus, who stood by the gang and his grandparents, silently observing the mob. _How quickly people change under the threat of death,_ Markus noted. _It's like I don't know any of them anymore._

"What are you saying?" Grandpa Longneck replied, appalled at Threehorn's remark. "Markus has done

nothing but help us! He defeated the sharpteeth not once, but twice, saving us all, and he defeated this Boba Fett character! His droids even offered to heal us after our battle in the meadows."

"But it's true!" someone shouted. "He himself said Fett told him that the Empire probably knew he was here! He brought evil to our Valley!" The crowd roared in anger, and began to close in on Markus, their shouts drowning out everything, their desperate expressions conveying their fear, which seemed to hang in the air like a thunderhead cloud. Markus just stood there as the crowd began to engulf him, a cold look defining his features. Littlefoot tried to reach him, but the crowd cut him off. Bron, his grandparents, and the gang tried to break through, but to no avail. The crowd closed in, angry thoughts dominating their minds. Markus vanished for a moment in the ensuing chaos, and it seemed inevitable he'd be killed by the advancing mob.

They jumped and backed away quickly at the echoing _snap-hiss_ that filled the air.

Markus still stood in the exact same place, his lightsaber pointed towards the ground in a passive-aggressive gesture, his cold expression now identifiable as held-back anger. For a moment the humming of the blue blade was all that could be heard. Then the blade retracted, and Markus spoke, breaking the silence.

"I will not be wrongly accused." he said, the air seeming to chill with the words. "I have done nothing to deserve your insults and panicked anger."

"Don't you see!" Threehorn roared, his most piercing glare aimed at Markus. "All these things happened when you arrived! The sharpteeth, the bounty hunter, everything! Now we're about to be invaded and forced out of our homes! Or worse! Because of you, we face an enemy that is stronger than us, deadlier than us, and outnumber us ten to one!"

"Many of us have children, some of whom befriended you! What will happen to them? They'll be killed or enslaved or endure some other horrific fate!" He turned back to the crowd. "How can we call him one of us when he has sealed us to our fate? How can he help us?"

"I don't know!" Markus replied, practically yelling. "I have absolutely no idea how I can help you! I've had ten minutes, for Christ's sake! I'm still taking it in! Give me more time!"

Threehorn snorted. "You took us to our doom. I don't see how you think we'll believe in you anymore. I certainly don't."

"Your daughter does."

"What?" Threehorn spat out, incredulous. Gasps were heard among the crowd, and Cera, who was standing over by the gang the entire time, felt her jaw drop in sheer horror.

"What is he doing?" she managed to whisper, completely confused and afraid of her father's wrath, which she would no doubt face now that Markus had brought her into the debate. Markus stood his ground and continued his assault, knowing he'd hit a nerve and was prepared to fully exploit it. His eyes were like needles, darting around and fixing their glare on anyone who he saw.

"Cera and Littlefoot and all the rest of my friends! They were they first people I met here, the first who were willing to accept me, maybe even enjoy my company. I can say without doubt I've enjoyed having them as friends. And for a reason I can't explain, they follow me, and have saved my life on numerous occasions, most recently today." Markus glanced over at Threehorn, who was still simmering, and added, "If you don't believe me, ask them yourselves."

"Fine!" Threehorn turned to Cera, his stare penetrating her being. "Cera, come out here."

Cera, her head down in fear, slowly walked out into the open, her eyes cast towards the ground. "Yes, Daddy?" she said in a meek voice.

"Is it true what he says?" Threehorn asked her, his voice clearly identifying the answer he wanted to hear. "Do you truly believe he can help us now?"

"I...well, I..." Cera sputtered, completely torn on what she should say. Markus, although she initially distrusted him because he was human and an outsider, had become her friend. He had fought not only for her, but the entire Valley, and had never betrayed her or her friends in any way. She felt obligated to defend him, but knew her father expect her to do just the opposite.

"Well?" her father urged, becoming more and more anxious as the seconds ticked by. Cera looked around with nervous eyes, hoping to find certainty in someone. She looked over to her friends, who were all watching her, their eyes darting between her and her father, wondering if she would go against her father or side with him. Then she glanced at Markus, and he glanced back at her at the same time. She saw his expression, and somehow she knew what he was thinking. He knew she was his friend, but he also knew her father was the most intimidating person in her life, and she knew he only wanted her to do what she felt was right.

Cera suddenly felt renewed, as if energy was flowing into her. Her mind had been made up, and she wouldn't let anyone, not even her father, change it. The beige Triceratops girl held her head up high and met her father's stare with an equally defiant one of her own. "Markus is my friend." she said, her green eyes flashing as she spoke, and she thought she saw disbelief in her father's eyes. "He's fought hard to help us, taking on what we couldn't, because we were unable to-or because we were afraid to. I didn't trust him at first, only because he seemed strange and different. I know better now, and I think you should know better, too. He's not perfect, but he's smart, and always comes through for us. I know he'll help us, but we have to start helping ourselves first. I'd listen to him if you want the Valley to survive." And with that, Cera walked back towards the gang, her head held high as she basked in her triumph over her fear of her father.

She glanced back at Markus, who wore a grin that had revealed itself as soon as her speech had begun. "Thanks for that" he said quietly to her as she walked past. She smiled back and then rejoined the gang, who were staring in disbelief at her.

"Cera..." Ducky said, a touch of admiration creeping into her voice.

"How did you do that?" Littlefoot asked, his eyes still wide. "I mean..."

"You've always been kind of afraid of your dad." Ali continued, awe evident in her voice as well. "How'd you stand up to him?"

Cera shrugged. "It was actually pretty easy. I just had to believe what I wanted to say." She smiled again. "It sorta felt good."

"Thanks, Cera." Littlefoot said, beaming. "Markus really needed your help."

"What can I say?" she replied wryly. "He's a friend."

Markus returned his attention to the crowd. Gasps and amazed exclamations were still audible, and everyone's expression had gone from hateful to awestruck in a matter of seconds. Most notably he saw Threehorn's face, still twisted in a disbelieving expression. Markus actually felt pity for him. _The guy just got nailed by his own daughter. I might've taken that a bit too far._

Grandpa Longneck spoke up. "As Cera was saying, I believe we should listen to what Markus has to say." All eyes turned on Markus, and he took a breath, and began.

"Just yesterday you all believed I was someone to be trusted, or at least tolerated. Now, you've been faced with the greatest challenge of your lives, the greatest challenge I could ever imagine. You have a choice; to face the coming invasion with pride and honor and fight for your friends and family, or be annihilated. And instead of allying yourselves against those who really want to kill you, you've been flailing around in a panicked frenzy, looking for someone to blame. I know we face insurmountable odds if we fight, but I bet if we find the hidden weapons here we'll have a chance of succeeding. Besides, I'd rather die than abandon yet another home. " Markus sighed, then continued, his voice slightly more subdued.

"I might very well be one of the causes of the Empire's near arrival. But I am sure as hell not the primary reason for them coming here! That reason lies in this very Valley. The Empire has been here before. Years ago, it seems, perhaps during the Clone Wars, Imperial forces, maybe the Emperor himself, came to this planet and built a hidden base, used to house the Emperor's forces and treasures, and, if necessary, fall back here if he was ever driven out of Coruscant or needed more weaponry than he already had. This is what Fett came for. Because I don't know the current year, I am unsure about the condition of the Empire and its fighting force, but if Fett's apparent age is any indication, it seems that it's been a decade or more since the first Death Star was destroyed. As far as I know, the majority of the Empire signed a peace treaty with the New Republic nineteen years after Yavin, so this could be a neo-Imperial group, which means the may be short on soldiers and weapons, and could be very desperate to obtain the weapons and ships hidden here."

Before anyone could ask a question Markus barreled on. "There is one other problem pertaining to the Imperials. Fett tells me they are being led by a corrupt Moff, and most disturbingly, a Sith by the name of Darth Malak." Gasps arose yet again, and Markus could practically smell the fear that emanated from the crowd at the mention of the Sith. Although they didn't know much about anything in the greater galaxy, they knew that the Sith represented pure evil, and would stop at nothing to reach their goals. Markus readied himself to continue. "What's more unnerving is that Darth Malak, according to my information, was a Sith Lord who existed no less than almost four thousand years ago. Whether this is really him in a resurrected form or a knockoff I'm not sure, but one thing is certain. Sith are very dangerous, and are not killed easily. defeating him will be difficult."

"I know we could all die, or suffer some horrible fate. But I sure as hell am not going to wait here for them to kill me and my friends. Are you? "

Markus finished his speech and looked around the crowd. He desperately hoped they would help him fight the new threat, and was having serious doubts himself about the whole thing. _Is Threehorn right? Am I leading them to their doom?_ His thoughts whirled around in his head, and he forced himself to once again face the denizens of the Great Valley.

His spirit lifted as he saw their now-determined faces, their eyes lit with the fire of a cause, the cause of survival. For a moment, he wondered where the hell he'd gotten such charisma, then put the thought aside as the silence that had entered when he'd finished speaking was broken by Bron, who had been watching him all throughout the meeting, and had smiled at Markus' last few words, amazed at the human's tenacity and spirit. _No wonder he and Littlefoot hit off so well, _Bron thought. Bron hadn't exactly seen much of Markus, as he had left Bron and Littlefoot alone when they were together, feeling that Littlefoot should cherish the time he had with his father. Seeing Markus vouch to fight for the Valley against impossible odds made Bron consider him less of Littlefoot's friend and more of Littlefoot's brother, much like Littlefoot and Shorty were after the journey the the place where the Great Circle fell. _I haven't spent much time with the kid, and from what Littlefoot tells me he's had a rough life . And Littlefoot talks about him him like a brother, even calling him that on a few occasions._ Bron knew the brotherly relationship between the two, and then and there decided that if Littlefoot saw Markus as a brother, then he would see Markus as his son._ The kid deserves it. I just hope we'll still all be together when this is over._

"I'm in." Bron said, stepping forward. "I'm not going out without a fight."

"Us, too." Grandpa and Grandma Longneck said simultaneously.

"I'll do what I can." Ducky's mother said, joining the group. Petrie and Ali's mother joined in as well.

Cera's father looked at his daughter, then at Markus, and for a moment Markus thought he saw a hint of respect in his eyes. "I'm in." he declared. More and more began proclaiming their commitment to fighting for their homes, and soon the entire Valley was prepared to do what they could. As the last adult finished their pledge, the gang stepped out, their faces sharing the determined look of their elders.

"I'm ready." Cera said. Her father looked on her with a touch of pride, his look conveying his resignation at his daughter's energy.

"Let's do it." Shorty chimed in.

"Me in." Petrie added.

"I am in, too." Ducky agreed.

"Mmm-Hmmm." Spike said, nodding his head in agreement.

"I'm with them." Ali said. The gang looked over at Littlefoot, the only one who hadn't spoken yet.

"I'll do whatever it takes." he said. Markus gazed back at him, a grin beginning to form on his face. Everyone turned their attention back to Markus, and once more there was a silence.

"What're you all standing around for?" he said. "Let's do this damn thing!"

The Valley erupted in cheers, not for the prospect of fighting the Empire, but for the knowledge that they would do whatever it took to save their home, as one, and that they knew their decision was right. Markus looked on at the crowd and had only one thing to say.

"What have I done?"

The first thing the Valley had to do was establish a hierarchy. Markus was voted their leader, since he knew more about battle and the Empire than any of them. After Markus, the elders were next, particularly Grandma and Grandpa, Bron, Threehorn, and the Old One from Ali's herd. The command structure went down from there.

Before any battle plans were made, however, they needed to know where the Empire was landing, and how their forces would be deployed. For that, Markus decided he'd learn it from Fett. He and the gang went down to the Falls, and retrieved Fett's helmet and blaster pistols from the ground, where they had been since the fight. "Why're we getting these?" Cera asked as Markus collected Fett's ion blaster from the dirt. "Isn't this Fett guy the enemy?"

"Not for long, if I have my way." Markus said. The gang continued to ask him what he was planning, but he revealed nothing as they made their way to the holding place, where Fett was still against the tree, HK still training his blaster on him.

Markus set the items on the ground near Fett's feet, then turned to HK and said, "Lower the blaster."

"What, master?" HK said in disbelief. R3 and the gang echoed his sentiment. What was Markus doing?

"Do it." Markus repeated. HK seemed about to protest, then complied and lowered the gun. Fett finally looked up and spoke.

"I assume you know that, besides the blasters, I have enough weapons in my suit and jetpack to kill everyone in this valley. His blaster is the only thing keeping me here."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Markus replied, looking down at Fett. "I want to make you a deal."

The gang's eyes widened, and HK was about to debate the logic of the proposal before Markus silenced him again.

Fett coughed out a laugh. "What could you possibly offer me? Money's not going to cut it."

"I didn't say anything about money. What do you want?"

"Why do you think I'd accept a deal from a Jedi? Your kind killed my father and ruined the Mandalorians!"

"I know, and that's why you might want to listen to me."

Fett mulled it over, something tugging at him in his brain. _I should kill this kid right now, but he's pretty quick, for one thing, and would probably bring me down in a few minutes. I wouldn't even be __able to make it to Slave I. I shouldn't be doing this! I'm a bounty hunter! I've been captured by a Jedi and some pre-industrial natives that could be mistaken for local wildlife! I should be shamed...I should be redeeming myself by cutting out his throat! And yet...if I can acquire them, I could begin my plan...It'd be just like the old days, with me as their leader...The Empire would never allow me that fee, but he might..._

"In this facility, there are old relics of the Clone Wars. Y'know, starfighters, droids, vehicles, that sort of thing. I've been tipped off by my employers that it contains clone troopers, locked away in stasis, along with their cloning equipment. I want twenty-five of those stasis pods, all with clone troopers in them. I also want a sizable amount of cloning apparatuses, and above all, no questions asked. That too much to ask for?"

Markus didn't even hesitate. "You'll get 'em, if they're there."

Fett felt his spirits lift, something that hadn't happened in a long time. He stood up and looked Markus straight in the eye. "What's my end of the bargain?"

"It's simple." Markus said. "I want you to contact the Empire and inform them you've taken this facility. Ask questions, ascertain where they will land, that sort of thing, but be discreet. Then, I want you to stick around until tomorrow, when we'll use your data to locate an entrance to this place. We go in, find these clones, you load them up, you leave, end of story. Oh yeah, and tell me: how many years has it been since the Battle of Yavin? I'm a bit off temporally."

Fett raised his eyebrow in curiosity at the last question, but nonetheless answered. "That last part I could've given you for free. It's been twenty-four years, give or take a month. Okay, I'll agree to it. How about you?"

Fett held his hand out to Markus. Markus instantly reached out and shook it. "We leave tomorrow morning."

"But why tomorrow?" Littlefoot asked, finding his for the first time in the exchange. "Why not now?"

"Do you know what time it is?" Markus replied, pointing at the setting sun. "I'd rather do this in daylight. It'll be easier to see, and I could use some sleep anyways."

"Tomorrow morning, then." Fett said, grabbing his blasters and his helmet. "I'll make the call now. I'll be here if there are any...developments."

"See ya then." Markus said, and led a once again awestruck gang and the droids out of the Tall Trees and over to the Elders. They gathered around as Markus began, anxious for any news.

"Boba Fett has agreed to help me find this facility." he said, drawing skeptic remarks and fearful looks from the assembled dinosaurs. "He also agreed to contact the Imperials and discern where they will land, giving us a tactical advantage. We'll leave tomorrow at dawn, and by tomorrow the Empire will have arrived. Until then, prepare yourselves in any way possible." Markus left abruptly, the gang and the droids following him back to the brush near the Falls. As soon as they got there, protests from the gang flowed forth at Markus.

"Master, I must protest." HK-47 began. "This Fett is untrustworthy; he nearly killed you and he ionized myself and R3. May I please dispose of him?" R3 warbled his agreement.

Markus sighed, exasperated."I knew you guys would try to debate this. No, not now anyways. Fett is an ally, albeit a shady one, and I'd like him to stay that way." Markus told him, his voice firm.

"Dammit." HK pouted. "I was looking forward to wrenching his spine out of his skeletal system."

"HK's actually got a point." Shorty agreed, himself unsure about the alliance. "He could double-cross you and try to kill you again. It's too risky."

"Fett knows more than we do about that place." Markus answered. "I know it's risky, but he can help us. We're helping him get something, and he won't get us all killed. At least, not yet."

"What does Fett want with clones, anyway?" Cera asked, bringing up a new question.

"Beats me." Markus replied, shrugging. "I didn't want to ask any questions, seeing that I want this thing to go as smooth as possible. Does it really matter?"

"Of course it does!" Littlefoot said, irritated at Markus' nonchalant agreement with Fett. "How do we know what he'll use them for? He'll probably corrupt them in some way or another. And did you ever think about these clones you're talking about? They're living beings! We can't just give them away!"

Markus fell silent for a moment, analyzing Littlefoot's point, then responded. "It would be no different from an adoption. He's taking clones that haven't seen combat, clones that are fresh out of the vats, of varying biological ages. He might actually make life pretty good for them."

"How so?" Ducky asked, intrigued by the debate of morals.

"Well, for one thing, he'd stop the genetic aging accelerator in the clone genome from functioning. According to the stuff on my datapad, the genetic switch for the gene was 'discovered' ten years before Yavin, supposedly stolen from the Alliance. My guess is Palpatine had it all along and used it to gain support for his military buildup. Since he was raised by a Mandalorian, Fett will probably also train them in their ways as well, which isn't as bad as you think. Although a violent people, Mandalorian culture is centered around family and camaraderie, so it might not be that bad at all."

"How do you know all this stuff?" Ali inquired, amazed at the information Markus knew.

"I was pretty into it before my parents were killed. It was my only link to what I had been, and I engrossed myself in this universe as much as possible."

Markus sat on a nearby rock, his lightsaber hilt glinting in the setting sun. "Moving on, I want to make sure you guys are really with me, and are prepared to enter this hidden base."

"What?" Cera said, her tone echoing her annoyance at the question. "You still don't think we're on your side?"

"Of course I do," Markus replied before the others could voice their concerns as well. "but I want you to know exactly what you're getting into. This is one of the Emperor's secrets, and that means some things in there are going to be pretty...unnerving. Not to mention the place is probably covered in traps and Sith stuff, so it could be pretty dangerous in there."

"But we have to!" Petrie said, who was uncharacteristically unfazed at the prospect of danger and seemed filled with spirit. "Fett say there weapons in it. How else do we fight the Empire?"

Markus gave the young Pteranodon a small smile. "Exactly my point, Petrie. The main reason we're going in there is to find a way to rid ourselves of the coming Imperial invasion, most likely using some Clone Wars-era war machines, something easily deployable. Fett mentioned something about their being dormant warships floating around the system, so one of those could come in handy, if it was remote-activated. And since the New Republic is the leading force in the galaxy at the time, if there is some sort of long-range communications array, I could use it to call for help, although who knows if I'll actually reach anyone. "

"I just want you guys to know that this plan is the most spontaneous thing I've ever thought up, and is always subject to change. So, you know, if things start falling apart, that's why." Markus sighed, glancing at the ground in dismay. "What the hell am I doing?"

"What?" the gang said simultaneously, confused at the question.

"How did all this happen? How come one day I'm a gun-wielding laboratory assistant with no parents whose job is to kill people who want to misuse technology that shouldn't even exist, and the next day I'm here, with you guys, in a Valley filled with dinosaurs, with two mismatched robots and a lightsaber, both of which should be pure fiction. And then I'm fighting velociraptors and developing Force powers and even having a small brush with the dark side. And of course you guys all turn out to be Force users-".

"WHAT?!" they shouted, HK, the one who took the scans remaining silent, and R3 joining the din. Markus looked up at the shocked faces, and grinned out of foolishness.

"I was going to tell you after all this, but I've always been terrible at keeping secrets."

"But we've never used the Force!" Littlefoot said, disbelief ringing through his mind.

"Yeah, how can you tell?" Cera asked, her face lit up at the prospect of the Force, which had been inaccessible to anyone in the Valley, except Markus.

"I was the one who discovered your abilities." HK started, turning attention towards him. "I used Markus' scanner to observe the cytoplasm in your cells. I found reasonably high amounts of the lifeforms known as midi-chlorians, enough to give you a certain amount of innate skill with the Force. Intrigued, I discreetly scanned other residents her, until I had my answer: every sentient creature living in the area has some degree of sensitivity in the Force."

"Damn..." Shorty whispered, summing up what everyone thought.

"Okay," Markus started again "before you all get any ideas, I have no idea how this is going to work out. I'm in no position to teach, seeing how I only am in my early stages of learning, and I only got this far by knowing how each power works. But this is a gift, and in time, perhaps you could use it."

"Oh, yeah, and Shorty?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't swear. I don't want your parents after me."

Shorty grinned sheepishly down at the ground. "Sorry."

"Anyways,-" Markus began, but he stopped as he noticed a large tan-brown figure near them, stepping forward and ducking it's head down to avoid the branches.

"Hey Bron." Markus greeted him, turning his head up towards him and nodding. The large Brontosaurus smiled down, his eyes conveying his anxiousness.

"Hey kids. Just coming by to see how your doing. Fett told me he's finished talking with the Empire, and he's ready for you." Bron shook his head. "That guy's a complete mystery. You never know whose side he's on."

"Dad!" Littlefoot said, practically exploding with the news. "You'll never guess what we just learned!"

"What is it?" Bron asked. "Is it something that can help us?".

"Well, not exactly, but it's good all the same! HK used his scanner-thing on everybody in the Valley, and it turns out everyone can use the Force!"

"What?" Bron's jaw dropped a little at the news. "How?"

HK stepped forward, claiming his part in the revelation. "Believe me, I was surprised as well, but somehow, perhaps from something, midi-chlorian production became a larger part of your cell functions. Over a few generations, the Force-sensitivity continued to increase, and continues to do so in you and your offspring."

Bron could do nothing at the news, engrossed in the wonder of it all. _We all have this power?_ he thought, _Amazing. The only problem is that with Markus, Littlefoot and Shorty all having this ability, I might have a little trouble keeping up. But, then again, I supposedly have it, too..._

"That's incredible!" he said after a moment. "I never thought anything like this could happen, least of all to us."

"But it does make sense, though." Littlefoot mused. "We've all gone up against some pretty bad odds, and always managed to come out alright. I always felt there was something keeping me going."

"And your dream." Ducky added. "Do not forget about that!"

"Huh?" Markus turned to Littlefoot. "What dream?"

"You mean you didn't tell him?" Ali asked, her brow raised in confusion.

"I guess not." Littlefoot said, a little uneasy at not sharing something so obviously connected to him with Markus himself. Littlefoot told Markus of the dream, of the vision of his arrival, of him fighting the raptors, and his message.

"Well," Markus said after he'd finished. "I wish you would've told me sooner, but at least I know now. It is odd that you'd receive a vision of the future, but this kind of thing isn't readily explained. In any case, if you have another one of these, please tell me about it before I have to fight something."

Littlefoot smiled a little, embarrassed. "Sure."

Markus turned back to the group. "Anybody else have a dream about me?" he said with a touch of sarcasm. Everyone laughed when they picked up on the sarcasm. "Good. It kind of freaks me out."

"So, I hear you're heading out to that hidden base that's somewhere in our midst tomorrow." Bron said, changing the subject. "How're you going to get in? I don't see an entrance or anything."

"We leave at dawn," Markus explained. "and Fett says he'd already isolated the location of the base by the tachyon residue from the cloaking device it uses. All we have to do is find a door."

"Speaking of Fett," he said, standing. "he's probably waiting for us to show up. Come on, guys."

The gang got up to leave, but before they could set off, Bron stopped Markus.

"Markus, could I talk to you, Littlefoot and Shorty for a moment? It won't take long."

"Sure." the three chimed. " Tell Fett I'll be there in a minute, will ya?" Markus said to the rest of the gang.

"OK!" Ali replied for them, and they ran off to the Tall Trees, their shadows flying across the ground.

"Dad, what is it?" Littlefoot asked. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Bron said reassuringly, gazing down on his son. "I just wanted to ask Markus something, and I wanted you two to be here for it."

"Uh...OK." they said, confused. Bron looked back down at Markus

"Markus, Littlefoot told me about your family, and how your life was after they died. Our family had its dark times as well, and because of them I lost my wife and nearly lost my son forever. I'm glad to say we did gain Shorty, and I couldn't be happier with my two sons. But you, although taken in by Littlefoot's grandparents, were never formally made part of the family."

"What I'm trying to say is that I'd like you to be part of our family. I know it's kind of abrupt and everything-"

"Yes," Markus said abruptly. "I mean, I'd very much like to be a part of your family, if you'll have me."

"We'd be honored." Bron replied, smiling. Littlefoot and Shorty grinned at Markus.

"I guess we're all brothers, now." Shorty said, grinning.

"Yep" Littlefoot said, beaming. His smile suddenly faltered a little. "I just hope we get outta this alive."

Bron, smiling on the three boys below him, added. "I know we all haven't spent too much time together, with the combined herds arriving just a couple weeks ago and the sharpteeth battle, not to mention Fett, but when this is all over, we're going to be a family."

"Hey guys!" Cera shouted, running over to them. "That Boba Fett guy's getting really tired of waiting!"

"Alright, we're coming." Markus assured her. He looked back up at Bron before heading out. "Thanks again, Br- I mean, Dad." he amended, proudly inserting his adoptive father's title. He felt a surge of hope enter him as he thought of his family. _I have Littlefoot, my foster grandparents, Shorty, and now Bron has become my father as well. Along with my friends and the Valley, I have more to fight for than ever. _

"Thanks, Dad." Littlefoot and Shorty added simultaneously.

"Your welcome, son." Bron replied happily. Markus smiled once more at him, then the three boys ran off to the trees where Fett had been.

Fett, his helmet now covering his scarred face, leaned against a tree and sighed impatiently as Markus, Littlefoot, and Shorty finally arrived_. _At the behest of ducky, he had begrudgingly began to tell the gang of his account of his first encounter of Han Solo. It had been in Fett's early twenties on a lawless planet called Jubilar, and Fett had only glimpsed the young man in a fighting ring. Solo, who had been caught cheating at cards, which was a felony on Jubilar, was forced into a fight against three larger opponents. In short, Solo ruined the other three in a spectacular display of luck and skill, and was rewarded by being allowed to leave the planet alive.

"What took you so long?"

"Sorry." Markus offered. "We got held up."

Fett grunted and spoke again. "I linked up with _Slave I _and made an audio-only transmission to the Star Destroyer I was on. I couldn't get much, but they'll arrive on the planet sometime tomorrow. I did convince them to land about thirty miles south of hear, but I don't know exactly where."

"How'd you get them to do that?" Ali asked.

Fett stared into her. "I told them how dangerous the locals were, and that a turbolaser strike was inadvisable because the base was unshielded."

Markus frowned. "Great, so they won't land on top of us, but as soon as they do land, they'll bring out the big stuff."

"Sorry." Fett replied, sarcasm creeping into his voice. "It was the best I could do with my situation."

Markus shrugged it off. "Whatever." He looked up at the darkening sky and said, "Well, it's getting late. Might as well rest while we can."

The gang tiredly agreed, and they split off in the directions of their homes, with Fett content with sleeping under the trees. Markus, Littlefoot, Shorty, HK and R3 all headed off to their clearing, where they found Bron and Littlefoot's grandparents smiling at them, weariness showing in their eyes. The droids powered down, their photoreceptors losing their glow as they stood, motionless. The three sauropods hunkered down in the grass, the boys laying next to them. Markus, before succumbing to sleep with the rest of his family, looked up at the stars and wondered which ones held enemies and which ones held potential allies. _Evil still exists here, _he reminded himself, _its just easier to see sometimes._

Dawn's light burned into the sky, and with it the gang and Fett setting off to find the base, which may be the only hope for their survival. Quick goodbyes were said, with Markus trying to assure each parent that they would all be fine. The sun had finally come into full view just as they had made their way back to Fett's last position, in between the walls of a small chasm, lined with dense brush. They were near the end of it, which was a huge cliff lading up to the top of one of the mountains that encircled the Valley.

"This is it." Fett confirmed. "It's somewhere within twenty meters."

The gang and the droids all spread out to search for it, with Littlefoot, Ali, Shorty and Markus heading over to the end of the chasm. After minutes of searching and poking around, however, they began to get desperate.

"It's not over here." Ali sighed in defeat.

"Where could it be?" Littlefoot said, exasperated. "The Empire's coming today!"

Markus simply sighed and gazed back at the rock wall, when his eye caught something. A section of the wall seemed to be flickering. Markus was quick to hypothesize. _Could it be...?_

Without warning, he tore his lightsaber out of his jeans pocket and stabbed the ignited blade into the section, eliciting a small gasp from Ali. The wall flickered again, then abruptly faded in a shower of sparks. Less than a meter behind it was a worn gray sliding door.

"Knew it." Markus said, grinning at his success. "It was a holographic projection, but it was reinforced by the force field projected onto it, which is why it seemed to be part of the wall."

Littlefoot's jaw dropped in stunned silence, then he too grinned at the success. "I knew you'd find it!". He ran off to the others, exclaiming, "He found it! Markus found the entrance!"

Ali stared open-mouthed at the uncovered illusion. "How'd you know?" she asked in awe.

"It was mostly luck. I didn't even notice it until I thought the wall had flickered. I guessed it was some kind of projection, but I knew it was solid and not just free photons because we had all felt along the wall, searching for the way in. "

"That's incredible."

"I'll teach you how to do that kind of thing sometime. It's easy." Markus offered, which made Ali blush in humility. She didn't think she had the patience nor the intelligence for such quick thinking, even though Markus obviously believed she did.

Fett, the droids, and the rest of the gang all gathered around the small passageway. "Well," Markus said slowly, the vastness of his task settling in on him again. "here goes." He stepped into the alcove, pressed the rusting button on the even rustier control panel, and the door slid open with a hissing of air. No light permeated the inside, and Markus was forced to ignite his lightsaber to light the way. He stepped inside, then motioned for the others to follow.

One by one, they all entered. Fett went first, followed by Littlefoot, Shorty and Ali, then Cera, Ducky Petrie and Spike. "Me got a bad feeling about this." Petrie muttered as they entered into the darkness. The door hissed shut behind them.

The humming of the lightsaber, the clanking of Fett's armor, R3's drive motors, and their footsteps were all that could be heard as they walked slowly down the dark and dank hallway. The air was stale, and the light from Markus' lightsaber revealed the once-pristine white walls were covered in dust. No doors adorned the corridor as they traversed it. Lights were clearly visible on the ceiling, but since they were not active, they remained dark.

"This place looks so Kaminoan." Fett remarked. "It gives me the creeps.".

"It does have a striking resemblance." HK agreed, hefting his blaster.

"This place..." Cera whispered. "It's so weird."

"What, are you scared, Cera?" Shorty asked, a little afraid himself.

"Who, me? Of course not." Cera swallowed. "At least not yet."

"Take it easy, guys." Markus admonished. "Look, there's a door." he said, pointing down the hall. Sure enough, a large white door stood at the end of the hall, reminding Markus of the "light at the end of the tunnel". _I'm going towards the light. _he thought. _I just hope I find some way out of dying when I reach it._

They reached the door, and it slid open as soon as they were within a few feet of it. Everyone jumped slightly at the movement, then Markus slowly stepped inside. The room was large, with a foreboding black blast door at the end. A single computer terminal stood in the middle. Markus slowly stepped up to it, the gang crowding behind him. Upon his arrival, the screen on the terminal blinked on, and words scrolled up in bright blue letters.

Please insert data gathering device.

A slot emerged from a panel on the left side of the device, just big enough for his datapad. "What does it say?" Ducky asked, perplexed at the characters on the screen.

"I think it wants me to do this." He replied. He reached into his pack, pulled out the datapad, and placed it into the receptacle. It slid back in, and the ancient computer whirred. Before anyone could react, a small sensor reached out from the terminal and shone a green bar of light over Markus. It quickly retracted, then, from a lens on the top of the machine, a blue cone of light shone, and a ¼ size, 3-D representation of a cone-headed, fish-eyed bipedal stood in midair.

"Greetings, new administrator. Welcome to this facility. I am one of the Builders. I have been programmed to allow you to become the new commander of this facility."

The gang, Fett and Markus, and the droids stayed silent for a moment, utterly confused at the being's appearance. Then Markus found his voice and said, "What do you mean, I'm the 'new administrator'?"

"I express my condolences at the loss of the last administrator, Palpatine. I received his preprogrammed message in the event of his death. He told me should he die, a new one would come, meeting the certain requirements necessary to become the administrator, and that they would lead in place of him. And, here you are, just as he said. After a few confirmation questions, you'll be granted your access codes and be free to use everything in this star system as you please. More or less, anyway."

Markus and the gang exchanged glances. "Now we know who built this place." Shorty said in realization. "I knew it had to be someone powerful."

"What is it?" Fett wondered aloud, staring at the odd-looking being.

"He's Rakatan." Markus answered, drawing confused looks. "What?" he said, feeling awkward at so many confused looks. "I played KOTOR, too." Seeing that his explanation only confused his friends more, he added, "I'll explain later. In the meantime, I suppose I'll have to become the new administrator in order for us to continue."

Turning back to the hologram, he asked, "What are these confirmation questions?"

"Merely a formality. Just answer them correctly and you will be allow to proceed."

"You are a Jedi master, and you learn your apprentice is planning to kill you. What do you do?"

"Well," Markus began, "I suppose I'd do everything I could to convince him it's not worth it."

"And risk giving him more time to plot against you? No, that answer is not correct."

Markus and the gang shared the same look of perplexity. "I thought it was right." Littlefoot said. The hologram continued speaking.

"You are a battlefield commander. You and your troops are hiding in a civilian city. You learn from your Intelligence operatives that you have five days until the enemy attacks. However, you could strike at the enemy in no less than three days. What do you do?"

Markus tried again. "I'd try to help the civilians as much as I could before going against the enemy troops."

"And risk revealing your plan to the enemy? Wrong again. Perhaps you are not the one we are looking for. Very well, since you failed the oral test, perhaps you do better on the the alternative test. If not, I'm afraid you will be terminated." The hologram abruptly shut itself off.

"Wait! What's the alternative test?" Markus cried out at the terminal. Suddenly, a clanging resounded down the hallway they had taken into the room, followed by a series of mechanical ticks and whirs. The gang peered down the hallway, and, for a moment, they saw nothing. Then, the once-dark lights came on, flooding the corridor with light, and Markus was the first to react. "Oh shit!" he said in dismay and horror. The female members of the gang screamed at the sight, and both Fett and HK raised their blasters and aimed. And the end of the stark-white hall way stood two fully-shielded droidekas and, behind them, a Heavy Dwarf Spider Droid!

As soon as their blood red photoreceptors locked on to the group, the droids began their advance. Red blaster bolts screamed through the air, and only Markus' shout of "Move!" kept the bolts from hitting their targets. The gang was separated , with Cera, HK, R3, Petrie, Spike, and Ducky on one side, and Markus, Fett, Shorty, Littlefoot and Ali on the other.

"Where'd they come from?" Shorty yelled above the ringing of the blasterfire.

"I don't know! I guess this is that test!" Markus shouted back. "That hologram has pretty high standards!"

"What do we do?" Cera screamed across the laser-filled doorway that separated them. HK and Boba Fett had already begun to return fire, but their blasters had little effect on the droidekas' shields and the Spider Droid's heavy armor.

"Hang on!" Markus dashed to the back of the room, and drove his lightsaber's blue blade into the blast door. To his surprise, the blade barely even scored it. "Damn!" he cursed loudly. He ran back to the others. "No good!" he shouted. "That door's made of something that resists my lightsaber!"

"There still coming!" Littlefoot shouted back. The sound of their approach became louder and louder, HK and Fett's blasterfire more ineffective than ever. Suddenly, something clicked in Markus' head.

"I got it!" he cried. "Fett, give me one of your blasters!"

Fett wasted no time in thrusting the silver pistol into Markus' hand. Markus glanced down the corridor, ducked from a blaster bolt, then enacted his plan. He dove into the doorway, blocking three bolts in his first second inside the corridor. He slid down the glassy floor, the droids' blasters attempting to track him. Markus twisted his body as he reached the droidekas, who were flanking the spider droid and were about six feet apart. He slid under the shield of one droid and used his blade to slice through its armor plating, short-circuiting it. Simultaneously, he tossed the blaster inside the shield of the other destroyer droid, and with a flick of the Force, pulled the trigger. The bolt blasted through the robot's torso, and both collapsed onto the floor, smoking.

Markus managed to amputate on of the Spider Droid's legs as he slid under it, the clunky automaton trying to track him. Markus leapt to his feet upon clearing the droid's underbelly and in one deft stroke, stabbed his blade into the power cables at the read of the droid's head. The droid sputtered and died, its photoreceptors losing their red glow as they lost power.

At the cessation of blasterfire, the gang had slowly come out from behind the walls and peered cautiously down the hall to see Markus casually walking back towards them, kicking a droideka body away as if it was a loose stone. "And that's how you kick ass." he proclaimed as he stepped back into the room.

"Showoff." Fett muttered. Before anyone else could speak, the hologram reappeared in a burst of static.

"It appears I was mistaken. Very well, administrator." The blast door on the other side of the room clanked open to reveal a small tubular space. "Please step into the turbolift to receive command codes at the observation deck." The hologram fizzled off, and the computer returned to its inactive state.

"Well," Fett said anxiously. "what are we waiting for?".

"Something's not right about this." Ali thought aloud. Turning to Markus, she added. "I mean, that's it? You kill those droids and suddenly this is your place now? It seems so sudden."

"True." Markus conceded. "It does seem abrupt, but what else should I do? If I'm supposed to claim this base, why can't I?"

"Better him than the Empire." Petrie added.

And with that, the group crowded into the turbolift. The door whisked shut behind them, and the lift lurched upwards. The humming sound reverberated throughout the car during the entire minute-long ride, with HK twice stating that the lift might not be entirely stable. Needless to say, he received a sharp "Shut up." from Markus after both occurrences.

The lift lurched to a halt, and the sliding door reopened to a new room, supposedly the observation deck. The room was lit, and its walls, like the rest of the installation's, shone white in the fluorescent lighting. To the immediate left and right, two other lifts were wedged into the wall. There was no doubt in Markus' mind this was a control room, perhaps a command station for high-ranking officials. Computer and screens and mainframes lined the walls around the room, with unoccupied chairs bolted to the ground at each station. The main wall was dominated by a 10 foot tall by 25 foot wide window, whose view was currently blocked by a metal bulkhead sealed over it. Three smaller viewports occupied the other walls of the room, all covered by bulkheads of their own. The computers all winked on as the room was exposed to light, characters scrolling across their screens.

"This is it." Markus said, exiting the lift. The others followed, everyone except Fett and the droids awestruck.

"It's so clean here." Ducky remarked, gazing at the smooth sterile walls. "I've never seen anything like it."

Markus sat at one of the terminals and began tying on the array of keys. "What're you doing?" Littlefoot asked, perplexed at Markus' frantic movements.

"Trying to get information." he said. With some effort he found his way through the petabytes of data to the control system, where a screen came up and a voice over one of the surrounding speakers droned.

"Please state your full name and your new authorization code."

After a moment, Markus replied. "Markus Silverman, THX-1138 Alpha."

A tone confirmed his selection, and the voice droned on. "Welcome. Clearance access Level 10 granted. Lockdown mode disabled."

The bulkhead on the window immediately opened, and a spectacular view of the Valley shone before them, light flooding through the transparisteel window. Markus could see the snow-capped mountains encircling the entire land, forming the Wall. The Thundering Falls glittered in the morning sunlight, and the trees enveloped the Valley in green. Markus could also see the dinosaur inhabitants themselves, which looked like small dots in the grass. "Woah!" was all anyone could say at the sight.

"How high up are we?" Ali wondered aloud.

"Cloaking system deactivated." the voice suddenly said. Air around the bases and midsections of the mountains shimmered, and was replaced by towering gray buildings. Hangars over a hundred feet high stood at the base of each part of the semi-ring of the complex, and the windows gleamed in the light. Only the Canyon Pass at the south end of the Valley, along with half of each mountain that bordered it remained untouched. Unpowered laser cannons sat on balconies, their barrels turned to the sky.

"My God," Markus whispered in awe. "what is this place?"

"Uh, guys?" Ducky said, peering out one of the viewports. "There is more of this place. Look!"

Everyone crowded to Ducky's window. Outside it, a trio of lights hung from the ceiling, illuminating a huge section of metal that seemed to float in the air above a shiny black floor. Suddenly, the light sprang out in all directions. More and more glowpanels winked on, illuminating a giant structure. They all gasped as it revealed itself to be a Clone Wars era Venator class Star Destroyer! But the lights did not stop there.

The number of lights on increased exponentially, revealing more and more landed warships, all Republic in alignment. Acclaimator heavy transports, Dreadnaughts, even space-borne Victory class Destroyers. The lights went on and on, revealing more ships, until they disappeared out of view, though Markus was sure there was more.

Then, as if the enormous array of ships wasn't enough, the ground started to shake. "Earthshake!" the dinosaurs cried out in alarm.

"Look!" Markus shouted, and they all stared back at the window. The hangar ceiling was spreading apart, revealing how the ships were able to enter in the first place. The entire Northern area outside the Valley, once thought of as nothing more than a desert, was actually a giant hangar door!

The shaking stopped as the doors locked into the open position, allowing the untouched Star Destroyers and cruisers to gleam in the light. "This is freakin' awesome!" Markus shouted as soon as he found his voice, caught up in the moment. "We've got it made with this place!"

"If you can keep it." Fett warned. "In the meantime, I suggest we not draw attention to ourselves, which means closing those hangar doors again."

"Oh, right." Markus said, his sense of logic returning to him. "What out those other windows?" he said, walking over to each and peering out it. The contents of those rooms were equally as immpressive, with one holding thousands upon thousands of stasis-held cloning cylinders, each with a body in it, and the other seeming to be a large factory surrounding a huge power core that stretched deep into the earth, the huge cylinder glowing red as it was powering up.

"Well," Fett said "if I could make a suggestion, I say we should head down to that cloning facility so I can get my pay. The sooner I'm gone, the better."

"Agreed." Markus answered. "But first I'm going to see if I can get a little information on where we are."

Fett leaned against a wall casually. "Suit yourself. But don't take too long. I don't like double-crossing my employers, especially if they're the Empire."

Down in the Valley, the residents were just recovering from their recent panic. First, strange structures had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, surrounding most of the Valley. Then, not one, but two earthshakes had struck, yet no one was hurt, and nothing destroyed.

"What is going on here?" Grandpa Longneck wondered aloud while trying to assure people they would be fine.

"I don't know, but I think we found that 'hidden base' Fett was talking about." Threehorn grumbled, himself shaken from the quakes. "It must be some human device that can hide things."

"I just hope the children are alright." Ducky mother said, nervously wringing her hands.

"I'm sure they are." Grandma Longneck replied. "Markus has never let us down, and wherever they are, I'm sure he is doing everything he can."

"I hope you're right, dear." Grandpa sighed, gazing up at the complex that had somehow appeared.

After closing the hangar bay doors, Markus, along with the droids, had set out into the computer system to learn exactly what the group was dealing with. The computers themselves held blueprints for practically anything, from 5000 year old droids to a food synthesizer. Markus had uploaded his datapad's information as well, saying he was trying to preserve it as best as possible. The facility, which had actually been secretly created by Palpatine during the final stages of the Clone Wars to be a self-sufficient stronghold, was enormous, over fifty stories high, and had incredible amounts of rooms and assorted items in it. Starships, a huge data library, storage bays containing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Battle Droids and other Confederacy war machines, all ready to be deployed.

The factories in the right wing of the complex had the power to build virtually anything anyone could need, with enough raw materials stored for years of continuous operation. In the left wing, a Kaminoan cloning facility stood, ready to create duplicates of anyone within ten years, with enough genetic information about the Fett clone to allow someone to make the clones to anything they wanted them to do, including the process that negates accelerated aging in clones.

Then there were the clones themselves. The gang was astounded to find that a staggering 3.2 _million _clones were currently in stasis, ready to be dethawed and put into battle at a moment's notice. Organized by rank and operation, the clones' stasis pods filled a good deal of the superstructure. Another 1 million of varying ages were in stasis as well, waiting to be awakened. Personal weaponry and armor was stored alongside each pod for quick usage by the clone, while the rest of the vehicles used by the clone army were stored in the rest of the wing, along with a vast block of personnel quarters. The hangars at the base were filled with exotic ships and vessels, perhaps as a museum for the late Emperor and his guests. Below ground, a vault lay darkened, its corners filled with Jedi and Sith artifacts Palpatine had hidden here, as well as precious red Courusca gemstones, each worth over ten million credits, and other valuables that when counted up, equated to a value that numbered in billions of credits.

Along with these treasures lay a collection of Jedi lightsabers and, oddly enough, Palpatine's private wines and spirits cellar, which must've had enough exotic beverages to give everyone on Coruscant a four-alarm hangover. Food was provided through synthesizers. The entire place was powered geothermically, although the power plant had been offline and required at least twenty-four hours to restart, leaving only emergency power that kept the lights, computers, and stasis chambers active. The base also contained several Holonet comm arrays, and Markus used one briefly before heading to the turbolift.

"What're you doing?" Shorty asked, confused. The gang echoed his thoughts, still utterly baffled by the facility they were now in.

"Calling for help." Markus replied.

After activating the array, Markus worked on setting the transmitter to a specific location. He finally found the receiving array on Coruscant, which he figured was the best place to call, since the New Republic had established its capitol there. He could only get an audio message out, though he figured it would be enough. He marked the message Priority Code 1, and set the destination for the Chancellor's office, which seemed the best place for someone high-ranking to find it. As soon as the array was ready, he recorded the message.

"Leader of the New Republic, I transmit this message under grave circumstances. I am Markus Silverman, and I am currently on a planet in the Unknown regions. I transmit this message from an old Clone Wars base on the third planet, the only facility in the system, as far as I'm aware of.

"The Empire is trying to claim the base through force, and they will launch an attack in no less than a few hours. They know the base contains weaponry and other things that could help the Imperial cause. They are being led by a Sith named Darth Malak."

"I, along with the locals of the planet, are the only things standing in their way, although alone we will surely perish. I ask for any assistance you can offer. Help us, leaders of the New Republic-"

He paused, thinking of how to end the plea. _You're our only hope? Nah, to cliched..._ "-your efforts will not be forgotten." And with that, he ended the transmission.

"Hopefully that got through." he muttered as he opened the lift door, allowing the gang to climb in.

"Do you think they'll help?" Littlefoot asked, hopeful.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. But we might have to face the fact we are truly alone in our fight, at least for now."

As they sped downwards towards the cloning facility, the gang was full of questions. "What's your plan now?" Fett asked, basically summing it up.

"I'm getting assistance from somewhere." Markus replied. "If not the New Republic, maybe the Old."

Cera's jaw dropped in realization. "You're not thinking we should wake those clone guys, are you?"

"Why not? It seems logical enough. All I have to do is convince them our side is the right one."

"But what about Order 66?" Ducky asked.

"Well, since Palpatine's dead, his order might not have any weight anymore. You'll see."

The gang looked at each other in apprehension. The lift stopped, and the door slid open to Stasis chamber 1. Lines and lines of cylinders, each with blue liquid and a clone inside, filled the floor, while equipment lockers stood between them. Fett stepped out, cradling his pistol, the other one safely in it's holster. "I'm going to collect my pay. Stasis 3 is just through this door. I'll get my clones from there. From there I can reach one of the aft docking bays, summon my ship, and be on my way."

"I guess this is where we part ways." Markus said. "Are you actually going to tell me what you plan to do with these clones?"

Fett obliged him, his filtered voice conveying resignation. "I'm continuing my father's work. I'm rebuilding the Mandalorians to their former glory. Once I get these clones to Mandalore, I'll train them, and then I'll have the core of my force."

Markus nodded. "A laudable goal. I guarantee I'll stay out of it."

"Thank you. I've had enough Jedi 'assistance' in my life." He paused to regard Markus. "Too bad there's not a price on your head. I'd enjoy the hunt."

"I'm sure you would. Later, man."

Fett nodded back, and stepped through the blast door in the wall. It hissed shut behind him. A long period of silence followed, and a humming told the group he had taken off in _Slave I._

"Glad he's outta here." Cera said, breaking the silence. R3 twittered.

"Yes, I agree." HK responded. "He is the most unusual organic I've ever met."

"He's a good man." Markus said, startling them all. Markus, seeing their looks, changed the subject. "Alright, lets look around here. Don't wander too far, though. It's easy to get lost."

The gang set of in different directions, exploring the vast room. Other than the stasis pods, the room held several landspeeders parked near the walls, probably used for loading. A few computer terminals dotted the walls, and Markus had already headed over to the lockers to look inside. "Hey guys!" he shouted. "Check this out!"

Everyone turned to see Markus in the cement-colored Republic Commando armor he had put on from on of the lockers, his lightsaber on the belt, the helmet in his hands. "There are blasters and grenades here, too. It's like a personal armory."

"Hey Markus!" Littlefoot shouted back. "I found something with those letter things you told us about!"

Markus put the helmet on and walked over to the cloning tank Littlefoot was at. An ID plate adorned the front. "RC-1207, 'Sev'" Markus read aloud. He looked up at the body in the liquid-filled tank, which was clad in a red Republic fatigue. "How is that possible?" he said, confused.

"What do you mean?" Littlefoot asked, confused as well.

"I know for a fact a clone named Sev was lost at the Battle of Kashyyyk." he replied. He walked slowly down the row, reading three other clones' names. "Boss, Scorch, Fixer." He turned to Littlefoot, an excited look on his face. "Gather everyone, Littlefoot. I think we found our clones. If anyone can help us, it's Delta Squad."

After some deliberation, Markus convinced the gang that if any clones would listen to them, it would be Delta Squad. Devoted, lethal, and the best of the best, the squad had been at the top of it's game, at least until 20 BBY. During the initial invasion of Kashyyyk, one of the squad's members, Sev, had been lost in action, or MIA. After that, Markus' records said nothing of Delta Squad.

The base's computers had the rest. Sev had been reclaimed by another squad, and after the initial battle, the entire squad had been put in stasis and brought to the facility, to fight another day. Markus worked the controls on the tanks. The liquid drained, and the men fell to the floor, their lungs breathing the cool air, their clothes newly dried from the sonic systems in the tank.

The one called Boss struggled to his feet and mumbled "Where am I?" to no one in particular, his vision still bleary.

"You're in a facility on a planet in the Unknown regions."

"What?" he sputtered, utterly baffled, his eyesight just beginning to return. "What happened on Kashyyyk?"

From there, the gang began to help the commandos recover and fill them in on the last forty-odd years, which took a little over an hour and a half. They covered everything, from the rise of the Rebellion to the New Republic. Markus, wishing to be fair with the commandos, presented only the facts, but he knew that the Empire's horrendous acts spoke for themselves. The gang also informed the commandos of where they were and about themselves and the Valley. Markus explained how he'd gotten to this universe and why he carried a lightsaber.

The commandos in turn told the gang about themselves. There was Boss, the leader of the squad, who basically was a little of everything. Scorch, the demolitions expert, was named so because he'd scorched his eyebrows off during training. Markus had no trouble identifying him as a joker. Fixer was the by-the-book tech who wasn't much into camaraderie. And then there was Sev, the sniper. His morbid fascination with killing freaked the gang out a little, but HK seemed pleased with it, himself an assassin droid. Markus could also understand it, as he still knew that kind of mentality.

Eventually, however, Markus couldn't avoid confrontation any longer. He was forced to give them the choice: they could help free the Valley from the coming Imperial force, or join their brothers and serve the Empire. Markus tried to convince the clones that if they stayed with him, he could help them and try to make life better after the Empire was off the planet, but left the decision to them.

At the ultimatum, the weight of the situation seemed to weigh on the clones. "We need a moment." Boss said, his mind filled with confusion. He'd been in stasis forty years? Sev was alive? All this and more swirled in his head as the commandos went off to one of the lockers to converse, leaving the Jedi-kid Markus, his droids, and those strange natives at the cloning tanks.

"Well," Scorch proclaimed. "I'll say it; we are completely screwed."

"Why should we believe anything this guy says?" Fixer said in confused irritability. "For all we know, this is some kind of Separatist trap!"

"I doubt it." Sev replied. "I'm here, aren't I? Besides, he's a kid, Jedi or no. He wouldn't do anything like this if he didn't know how. He's telling the truth."

"How do you know?" Fixer shot back.

"Three things: one, he told us about the Order 66 thing and the Empire, which isn't something I'd do if I wanted to dupe a commando. Two, he's got those weird dinosaur-things with him. I've never seen anything like them, and they seem pretty honest to me. Their just kids. And three, we are in some kind of facility, with a lot of Fett clones."

Fixer conceded. "Alright, let's say he is telling us the truth. What do we do now?"

Boss glanced down at the ground. "We either help him, or join this Empire."

Scorch, who had been silent for most of the discussion, spoke up. "I say lets follow him. I know it seems a little spontaneous, but he showed us how we can slow our aging, so we can get longer lifespans. He promised us a hell of a lot better life than the one we had in the GAR. He'll let us do whatever we want, whenever we want it, even retire, although I'm not ready to quit shooting yet. He seems to actually care about what happens here, about what happens to us. With him, we've got money, a great posting, long lives, a bunch of ships all to ourselves, and who knows what else. And as for this Empire, as far as I'm concerned we only fight for the Republic."

"Yeah, he's a kid, but he knows stuff. From what he told us, he's been fighting for six years, longer than any of us have. The whole thing about our universe being fictional to him doesn't bug me that much, and if anything I feel like I know him. And he's a Jedi. Not one of those high-and-mighty Jedi, just a down-to-earth, regular guy with a lightsaber kind of Jedi. And if he can help us, I say we help him. After all, he did save us from rotting to death down here."

Everyone in the squad was staring at Scorch, captivated by one of the few intelligent things he'd ever said. "Scorch," Boss said, a grin forming on his face. "you've become quite the hearts-and-minds expert. You should be in Army PR with that kind of talk."

"Yeah," Sev chimed in. "it's like having a University of Coruscant cheerleader with us."

"Shut up."

The squadmates laughed, then Boss said, "Alright, we know what Scorch wants. I'm with him as well. We're stuck in a world forty years in the future, and we need all the help we can get. Anyone else?"

"I'm with you guys." Sev said. "There's always the advantage of being a small force against a huge one."

"What's that?" Fixer asked, already knowing the answer.

"More kills."

"I guess I'm with you guys too." Fixer agreed. "We go as a squad."

"Then it's settled." Boss said. He and Delta Squad walked back over to the group, who was nervously awaiting their decision. "We've decided to join you." Boss announced.

Markus looked up from the floor in amazement. "Really? Kick ass! I played your game, but I never thought I be fighting alongside you!"

"What game?" the squad asked in unison.

"I'll tell ya later." Markus replied.

"Right." Boss turned to the lockers. "Mind if we get our armor on?"

"Yeah." Scorch added. "I feel naked in this fatigue."

"Go ahead." The squad walked of to their lockers and began to dress.

"How did you do that?" Littlefoot asked in amazement. "You turned those guys to our side in only a couple hours!"

"Yeah!" Shorty chimed in. "It's like you draw people in, make them your friends."

"I don't think it's a matter of charisma." Markus replied, feeling odd at the praise. "All I did was tell them the truth, inform them of my efforts and intentions, and gave them a choice. We got lucky."

"Still, your ability to make allies is noteworthy, master." HK added. "Look at this group. If not for you, many, if not all of the beings in it would be dead. You 'have a way with people'."

Markus allowed himself a smile. "Yes. I guess I do."

"It's hard to tell these guys apart." Cera said, glancing at them. "I mean, they're clones."

"I think it's time I teach you a basic lesson in using the Force." Markus said. "Reach out with your minds. Close your eyes. Erase all thoughts from your mind, and see if you can feel theirs. The difference is quite striking."

The gang did so, and a gasp emerged from Littlefoot. "I can see it!" he whispered. One by one, the others confirmed they could view the commandos,too.

"This is their Force aura. A person's aura tells a lot about them. What do you see?"

"They're all covered in color." Cera said, inhaling deeply. "That Boss guy's light-gray and a little yellow, but the colors are all swirling. I think that means he's pretty much a good person at the core, but the gray means he could still do the things he does, like shoot people."

Ducky spoke. "Scorch, he is like that, too, but he has a little more yellow. Perhaps he stays more on the good side."

Littlefoot began to talk as well. "Fixer is almost all light gray, with only a little yellow. Maybe he's done enough bad things and enough good things to almost make him balance out."

Ali gasped. "Sev, he's different. He's gray at the edges, but he's black in the middle, except for a splash of yellow at the center. It's like he's got an evil inside him, but there's still good."

"Good. Open your eyes now." They did, and Markus was leaning against a tank in contemplation. "You guys just learned your first lesson in the Force. However, everyone's aura doesn't say everything, and is always subject to change and interpretation. Never judge by an aura. Always get to know the person first. Delta Squad are good people, but they are trained to kill."

The squad had they're armor and DC-17 blasters and attachments together, along with their ammo and packs. Boss' armor had orange streaks on it, while Scotch's had yellow. Fixer's had blue, and Sev's were blood red. They put on their helmets, and the T-visor glowed blue as the systems came online. Markus had left his helmet back in the locker, preferring his head to be 'out in the fresh air'.

The squad was just about to walk back over when a roaring scream echoed through the chamber. It did not cease, only wavering from time to time. There was the sound of laserfire, and the base was rattled slightly. "What the hell was that?" cried Scorch.

Markus ran to a monitor, his mind already formulating an answer. He knew that scream, and that laserfire sounded so familiar. He keyed in one of the outside camera views, and his face became pale.

He immediately shouted orders. "Guys, we've gotta move! The Empire's here, and they're attacking the Valley with no less than a whole squadron of TIE fighters!"


	13. TIE fighter attack!

Markus backed away from the monitor to allow the group to witness the raid, himself still in shock. A collective gasp , followed by cries of shock, emanated from the gang as they watched the terrifying scene before them. The camera view, while limited, showed the basics of what was happening. No more than eight H-shaped TIE fighters and four agile, newer TIE interceptors darted around in the sky, taking potshots at the ground, firing their lasers at anything that moved below, including the residents of the Valley. Dinosaurs scattered at the laserfire, running for their lives and into the trees at the sounds of the strafing runs. So far it seemed these TIE pilots were poor shots, as no bodies could be seen. But the laser blasts were getting more and more accurate...

"We gotta do something!" Littlefoot cried, unable to take the sight anymore.

"Way to state the obvious!" Cera replied, terror filling her veins as well. "The question is what do we do?"

Delta Squad stared at the monitor as if they were bolted to the floor. "Things really have changed." Boss said in a solemn voice. "In my day we at least had discipline. No one in his right mind would just shoot up a place like this, and we especially didn't target natives."

"Yeah, even we weren't that crazy!" Scorch chimed in, himself disturbed at the mindless attack on innocents.

Littlefoot turned back to Markus, who was busy tapping something up on his datapad. "What're you doing!" he practically shouted, his voice marinated in panic. "We have to find a way to help them!"

"Hang on!" Markus yelled back, exasperated, tapping the controls furiously. He looked up with an urgent expression and spoke quickly. "I got it! We gotta find a way outta here, right? I downloaded a map while I was up in that control room. If we go to stasis block three and take the first cargo door on the left, that cargo tunnel will take us directly down to one of the hangars at ground level. While I doubt half the ships down there even work after so many years here, there is a ship we can use, and it's right out in the Valley."

"The Ebon Hawk!" Shorty finished as he caught on. Markus nodded quickly, smiling slightly as he envisioned his chance-in-hell plan.

"We'll head out into that forest where I parked it. Me and the droids practically finished repairs from my landing before I came to the Valley. It's got a decent amount of weaponry, and we could probably take these fighters easy."

"But how're we gonna get out there in time!" Ali cried. "It takes too long to run!"

"Who said anything about running?" Markus answered wryly, pointing. The gang looked over to see a gray parked cargo landspeeder in the corner, its broad nose facing outward. The unit consisted of a repulsorlift engine in front, with a windshield and open passenger cabin with three seats. The rest of the speeder was a cargo bed which reminded Markus of a pickup truck's bed, about three meters by 1 meter, perfect for the gang to ride in. It sat on the floor with its repulsors disengaged.

Markus turned back at the group. "Everybody in!" he shouted. "HK, over here for a second." he said separately to HK. The droid obliged and clanked over to the monitor that Markus had used to show the TIE fighter attack in the Great Valley. He pressed keys furiously, engaging program after program. In a moment, he finished. "Come on." Markus said, and he and HK ran to the speeder, where everyone else was just about on board. The gang was all in the back, with R3 hauled up onto the bed with them. Sev and Boss were in the back, too, their rifles in hand.

"I'm driving." Markus told Scorch as he clambered in, who was in the driver's seat. Scorch obliged and moved over, though he clearly wasn't happy about it.

"Why can't I drive?" he mock-pouted, his voice a little muffled through his helmet comlink.

"Because I'm older." Markus replied, making a joke out of a true fact. He scanned the controls, thinking as he glanced at each one. _Gas pedal here, Brake pedal here, no gearbox, but there is some kind of forward-reverse lever. Steering wheel here, lights, ..._

Markus pressed a button he thought was the starter, and suddenly the speeder rose a few centimeters off the ground. "Yes!" Markus cried in jubilation. "HK, set your comlink signal to 83.3 megahertz. It'll allow you to interface with the base's central computer and open the doors in this place. Ready?"

There was a slight pause. "Interface enabled." HK replied. The first door whooshed open.

"All right, let's ride!" Markus yelled over the whining engine. He slammed on the accelerator, and the speeder's engine revved again.

It flew backwards a few feet and slammed into the wall, the clang of the metal echoing through the stasis chamber.

Everyone shouted in surprise at the collision, then stared at Markus in shocked silence. "Uh... ." Markus said, embarassed. He hastily pulled back the lever. "Had it in reverse..." He shifted to the correct position and muttered in the silence. "Let's try this again, shall we?" He revved the engine one last time. The speeder sped forward, gaining speed. "Yeah baby, yeah!" Markus yelled as they sped out the door and into the next chamber.

The wind flew past Littlefoot's face as the speeder sped through the wide halls, the doors in their way opening at HK's summon. Throughout the entire ride, the gang actually started to enjoy the ride, Ducky hanging on to the back of the seats , looking out the windshield and marveling at their speed. The speeder, being relegated to cargo duty, did not have a very high top speed compared to other landspeeders, but the 120 mph top speed it did possess was perfect for whipping around wide hallways in the newly lit hallways of the base.

The scene soon changed as they turned the tenth corner. The hallway opened up to one of the large ground hangars, which was filled with walkers and gunships and other Clone Wars era attack craft. Markus sped through it all, the war machinery nothing more than a blur, all the while eying the huge hangar door at the end. "HK?" he shouted over the din as the door rushed up to the small craft. "We could really use that door open now!"

"Copy!" The door was hauled open, and the light from the Great Valley shone through. They flew out from under the slow-moving door and into the sunlight of the Valley. No sooner had they exited the facility when they saw the denizens of the Valley still running and screaming as the TIEs swooped down on them, scorching the grass with laserfire. The speeder tore through the meadows and hills, evading any blasts that got too close. They passed by dozens of dinosaurs, receiving momentarily startled looks from all.

"Grandpa! Grandma! Dad!" Littlefoot shouted as they drew nearer to the three Longnecks, who were busy heading into the forests where they couldn't be spotted from above. The Longnecks turned their heads, and their jaws nearly hit the floor upon seeing the landspeeder come out of nowhere and fly by, the kids in the back and Markus driving at full speed. Their eyes widened as a shot narrowly missed them.

"What are they doing?" Ducky's mother cried, seeing the speeder as well.

"I don't know, but it seems like they do!" Bron answered quickly, hurrying everyone into the trees.

Suddenly, the TIEs had lost their interest on the dinosaurs, and were circling the landspeeder as it sped through the meadow. One dropped behind them and fired a volley directly into their path. The ground exploded, and the landspeeder flew through the smoke a few feet into the air before slamming to the ground. The TIE that had been chasing them had broken off pursuit, but another was about to take its place. "We have to stop them!" Cera yelled over the sound of the engine and the scream of the TIE engines in the air.

Sev was busy snapping attachments onto his DC-17 blaster, already forming a plan. "I got it covered." he said, snapping on the last attachment, completing the sniper mode of the multi-purpose rifle. He aimed at the closing TIE fighter, and fired.

Captain Des Moghan allowed himself a slight smile inside his black helmet at the sight of the scurrying natives out his TIE interceptor's viewport. His squadron, Iota, had been assigned to patrol duty as soon as the Broadsword had landed on the planet's surface. But once they had located the base, things had gotten pretty boring.

That is, until Iota 6 had suggested the over sized natives would make great target practice. That had started a frenzied attempt to mow down the lumbering reptiles, but so far no one had actually hit anything yet, always just missing the scrambling beasts.

Suddenly, Iota 6 got back on the comm line. "Hey Lead, one of those hangars is opening." A pause was heard over the subspace radio, then , "Hey! There's a landspeeder! Somebody was in there!"

Startled, Moghan turned his fighter around to face the ground. Then, he saw it: some cargo speeder filled with something unidentifiable was racing through the meadows at top speed. "Permission to open fire?" Six had asked.

"Granted." was his immediate reply. Whoever it was, they had just made themselves hostile. He turned back to watch. Iota 3 had also heard Six, and was finishing an unsuccessful strafing run on the speeder. He pulled up, only to have Six dive in where he was. Moghan watched intently as Six closed in.

He was practically at point-blank range when a single blue bolt darted up at his fighter.

Moghan watched in disbelief as the bolt struck the only place on a TIE that was vulnerable to small-arms fire, the fuel line on the left pylon. The line exploded, and Six's fighter went out of control and slammed into the ground, incinerating everything within 5 meters.

Moghan swore loudly, then sent out another transmission. "This is Lead. Take down that speeder!"

Markus turned back just in time to see the TIE fighter above them burst into flame. It drastically increased in speed and slammed into the ground 30 meters left, the explosion glowing bright yellow. "Nice shooting!" he shouted back to Sev. Seeing the familiar forest from which he had first entered the Valley, he drove the speeder in through the trees, trying his best to avoid everything in his path.

They drove for another thirty seconds before reaching the clearing. The Ebon Hawk sat exactly as it was left, with only a little rust on the red and gray paint job to show how long it had been.

Markus skidded the speeder to a stop, jumped out, and dashed over to the boarding ramp access. He slammed his hand onto the control, and the ramp lowered, hissing. He ran through the narrow halls to the cockpit, the others not far behind. The ramp hissed shut as soon as everyone was aboard. Everyone crowded in the cockpit, eager to take off.

"Well?" Scorch said, exasperated. "what're you waiting for?"

"Let's go!" Cera added.

"Hang on!" Markus shot back. He looked over the array of controls, unsure of how anything really worked. He forced himself to relax and feel the Force, and suddenly it was all clear. He flicked three switches in a row, and the cabin suddenly lit up, the power generator having been activated. "Ok." he said, glancing at the status monitor. "The hyperdrive still doesn't work, but I doubt we'll need that. Let's hit it!" He pulled a lever to engage the repulsors, and the ship lifted off the ground. Two more levers activated the sublight engines and retracted the landing gear, and suddenly, the ship was in the air, blasting out of its forest prison.

Littlefoot and the gang felt the shaking of the ship as it left the ground. Everyone looked out the window at the fast-retreating ground below. "We going fast!" Petrie exclaimed, eyes wide. Markus and the commandos were busy pressing levers, and generally trying to figure out what was what. Littlefoot glanced up at the forward viewport, and his eyes widened.

"Look out!"

Markus reflexively pulled the trigger on the control stick, and looked up just in time to see a TIE fighter they were headed straight for explode all around them, destroyed by the forward guns. Only the shields protected the ship from the superheated debris. Markus let out the breath he had held in. "Well, they know we're here now."

"Looks like we have gun turrets on this thing." Fixer said, looking at a schematic on one of the screens.

"Right." Markus said. "I'll get in one." He was about to tell Sev to come with him, but suddenly, he felt something pull at him, as if the Force, just as it had helped him start the ship, was also directing him now. At first the idea seemed preposterous, then it suddenly clicked.

"Ducky, come with me." he finished, now confident in his decision despite its apparent lunacy.

Ducky gasped incredulously. "Me?" she said, bewildered that Markus would even think of such a thing.

"Yes!" Markus repeated, now fully convinced that he was doing the right thing.

"But I do not know how to do this kind of thing! Oh no no!" Ducky protested, apprehension gripping her even as she prepared herself to follow the human's instructions.

"Yeah, wouldn't it be better if one of us filled the gunner role?" asked Sev, incredulous. "She not exactly a trained soldier!"

Markus ignored Sev. "Come on, I'll help you. The Force tells me you can do this. I can't explain it. Let's go!" At that, and for fear of losing precious time needed to save the Valley, she jumped up and followed him to the gunwells. "I'll take the top, you take the bottom." Markus instructed.

Ducky jumped in and climbed quickly down the ladder to the bottom. She ended up in and over sized seat, with a lot of lights to either side of her, a firing/movement control stick, and a large clear window spread in front of her, on the other side of which she could see the two laser cannon barrels sticking out from either side of the turret, and the Valley flying past below.

"You in, Ducky?" Markus' voice asked over the speakers after he had taught himself the controls.

"Yes." Ducky answered, confusion evident in her voice as she took in the dizzying array of button, switches, and lights surrounding her.

"Ok, we don't have much time. See that control stick in front of you?" Markus spoke very quickly, and Ducky almost couldn't keep up with his commands.

"Yes?" She answered, grabbing onto the stuck with both hands, pulling it back until she could reach it.

"There's a green button on it." Markus continued after a moment. "Press it."

She did, and suddenly a crosshair was projected onto the window. On the screen in front of her, there was a three-dimensional picture of the outline of the ship, surrounded by little yellow dots. "I pressed it." she called to Markus.

Markus sped up the instruction, his words coming faster and faster over the intercom. "See the dots on the screen? These indicate where the fighters are. To move around, just turn the stick left or right to swivel the turret, and move it up or down to aim in that direction. To fire, just pull back on that black button on the front of the stick. You want to get the fighters right in the crosshair on your window before you fire. Got it?"

"I think so." Ducky replied very uncertainly. Nevertheless, the bravery she had demonstrated in the past resurfaced, and she gripped the controls tightly.

"Good. Whose flying this thing?" he asked, directing his question to the cockpit.

"We are, and we're doing a damn fine job of it!" Boss replied, attempting humor.

"They're closing in!" Scorch's voice rang out, worry creeping into his voice. "Here they come!"

The TIE came down on them, firing lasers. The Hawk darted and spun, but some bolts still struck home. Both Markus and Ducky fired, their laser cannons lurching backwards from the recoil, but there shots went wide as the TIEs sped by. The TIE came around and fired again, but no one could manage a hit.

"They're too fast!" Ducky yelled over the din, squeezing off another laser shot that missed its target.

"Don't worry about it! Just keep with them!" Markus instructed over the comm. Ducky tried as best she could. _I have to do this!_ She thought to herself, watching the fighters come around again and again, firing whenever she thought she had a good shot. _I don't want to know what happens if I don't._

The TIEs came round, firing their deadly green volleys, and Markus lined up his target and fired repaeatedly. A fire-linked plasma blast tore through the TIE, tearing it to pieces. "Gotcha!" Markus whooped as the fighter exploded, already tracking another. The fighters passed by Markus' turret, but Ducky had already swiveled around as they came in firing at the ventral section. She jabbed the firing stud, releasing the at the group, and her bolts blasted out another fighter's engine sending it hurtling over the towers lining the Valley, presumably to an explosive end.

"I got him!" she cried triumphantly.

"Now you got it!" Markus called back. The battle wore on for another minute. Ducky scored three more hits on the TIEs, with Markus getting four as they passed by their respective turrets repeatedly. Boss and HK-47 desperately tried to manuver the ship out of the enemy lasers' path, but the _Ebon Hawk's_ shields were taking a serious beating. As the battle closed, only two more TIEs had dared to challenge the _Hawk_, but they had the edge, as the ship's shields were almost gone.

They came around, and Ducky fired just as the fighters came into range. Her shot caught the right ship on its hexagonal wing, sending it spiraling to the ground. The other TIE, however, had its chance to fire, and the Interceptor's last volley shook the ship. "Shields are gone!" cried Scorch.

Markus, now completely concentrated on his target as his fighting senses kicked in, tracked the TIE along its return course. Markus fired twice in rapid succession, the first going wide as the fighter juked, and the second compensating for the maneuver, hitting the fighter squarely in the ball cockpit. The fighter exploded in midair just as it came into firing range.

Markus flopped back in the chair, sighing. Ducky looked at her targeting scanner and shouted jubilantly. "That it! We did it!"

Victorious cries could be heard on the comm as Markus and Ducky climbed out of their turrets and back to the main floor of the ship. The gang was already waiting by the gunwell entrance, barely holding in their excitement.

"That was great!" Littlefoot exclaimed. "They'll think twice about shooting at us again!"

"Great work, guys!" Ali added.

"Ducky got most of 'em. She's a natural." Markus said, gazing at Ducky with pride. Ducky blushed.

"Thank you. You did get one more than me, though."

"Yeah, but that was because we faced an odd number of ships. I got lucky. You, on the other hand, had never done anything close to this, and you managed to pick it up in a matter of seconds. Without you, we all could've died. You've proven not only that you're very accurate and a good shot, but also that you work well under intense pressure. That's not easy."

Ducky held her head up high, smiling back at Markus. Before she could say another word, Fixer shouted from the cockpit. "Don't get cocky just yet! Another one of those ships was watching us outside our sensor range. It's heading south!"

"Follow it!" Markus yelled back. "Come on." He and Ducky dashed into the cockpit, where the gang and the commandos had already crowded in to see the latest Imperial fighter over the Valley. Fixer was at the helm, with Boss in the copilot's seat and Sev and Scorch in the back seats, monitoring ship systems, and optimizing performance.

"Nice shooting, by the way." Boss said. He pointed at Ducky. "Especially you. That must be great beginner's luck."

Markus was already glancing at display monitors. "It's heading into Canyon Pass." he observed, referring to the broad, incredibly long canyon at the southern end of the Valley that served as an entrance for visitors. He looked out the window, watching the TIE interceptor tear across the sky and into the canyon pass.

"We can't attack it." Fixer muttered. "It's using the rock walls as protection. It's too far ahead."

"Not for long!" Markus answered defiantly as the Ebon Hawk dove into the canyon after the screaming TIE, blazes of yellow light rocketing out of its two huge circular sublight engines.

* * *

Moghan, after witnessing the unknown freighter burst forth from the forest and immediately destroy one of his fighters, had ordered Iota squad to turn it to dust. He, however, had stayed behind to observe, seeing this as a test for his new squadron. He watched in sheer horror as the freighter's gunners blasted TIE after TIE apart, the fighters falling from the sky like damp moths. Even the last two fighters, the best shots in the squadron, had failed to destroy the transport.

He punched his engines, knowing full well that he didn't stand a chance against someone who annihilated an entire TIE squadron with nothing more than two laser turrets. _These people really are dangerous._ He thought as he watched the ship turn towards him. His fighter screamed towards the canyon where the Star Destroyer had been docked, hoping to find some sort of refuge there.

* * *

Malak sat in Observation Blister 1, meditating in the morning sun as it flowed through the enormous transparisteel window that made up a wall of the room, the rest of its space taken up by datacards containing copied Sith teachings and reprinted legends. He had completed his return to life, his skin retaining its pale color and striped tattoos adorning his bald skull. He chose this room of the Star Destroyer as his private sanctuary, with the transparent wall allowing him to gaze out at his surroundings.

Currently, a canyon wall blocked half of his view, due to the fact that the Broadsword was currently docked to a prefabricated repulsorlift docking station situated on the side of the canyon almost thirty miles south of the valley containing the facility, but he did not mind. Not when so many other things would soon change his fortune, as well as the rest of the galaxy's. He would rise the Empire out of its ashes and bring it back to its former glory and rightful place. All with the power of the Force-and the Galaxy Gun, the new superweapon Thalus' engineers had been working on for nearly six years in secrecy.

The weapon was actually a ship, over 38000 meters in length. Built in the shape of a huge blaster barrel, it bristled with 850 turbolasers, 1000 point-defense laser cannons, and 500 ion cannons, and its hangar bays held over 400 starfighters, along with assault shuttles and other support ships. But all of that wasn't nearly as impressive as the massive ship's primary weapon-the particle-disintegrator warhead launcher.

The barrel design of the starship attributed to the launching system. When a target planet or other large mass was selected and the ship was in firing range, the missile would be launched. While carrying very little fuel and thus requiring the weapon to be relatively close to the target, they sped along at near-light speed and their shields protected them from almost any weapon, while they in turn could punch through any shield.

Once the warhead impacted, it exploded, triggering immense nuclear reactions that surrounded the target. Within moments, all matter would be converted into energy, destroying everything in the target area.

While a version of the superweapon had been used by Emperor Palpatine during his clone resurrection and subseqent bid to take over the galaxy about 14 years prior, Thalus', built in secret, was much more powerful and could fight an entire fleet without any support ships. It had one purpose: to kill anything and everything in its path.

Malak's thoughts were interrupted by the scream of a TIE interceptor hurtling down the canyon. He paused for a moment to wonder what hurry the pilot could possibly be in, then returned to his meditation, quietly embracing the Force.

* * *

"Chief of State Fey'lya will see you now." the white-furred Bothan secretary announced in a slightly bored tone, immediatly turning to answer yet another call directed at the former office of the Chancellor of the Republic.

"Thank you." Luke Skywalker replied, and he and his sister Leia walked through the sliding door into the Chancellor's office.

It had been awhile since Luke had visited the city-world of Coruscant, nearly a year and a half. He had dropped by Han and Leia apartment for a quick hello, but he wasn't there for pleasure. With Leia's help, he would attempt to persuade Borsk Fey'lya to allow him to reestablish the Jedi Council as a governing body for the Jedi that could interact with the New Republic the same as it did during the Old. While the idea of peacekeeping Jedi seemed very noble to Luke, he knew Fey'lya always had a secret agenda, and would probably see things very differently.

After all, he was a Bothan, and a conniving one at that.

Bothans were furry mammalian humanoids who hailed from the planet of Bothawui, a forested, cosmopolitan planet in the Mid-Rim of the galaxy. Descended from feline ancestors, they usually stood around 1.5 meters high and were completely covered in fur, which could range from jet black to creamy orange. Bothans were most notable for creating the Bothan Spynet, which was an intelligence agency that assist the Rebel Alliance on many occasions in the Galactic Civil War, including delivering vital intelligence concerning the construction of the second Death Star over Endor.

In the wake of Imperial dominance, however, Bothans had created a powerful place for themselves in the New Republic. While exhibiting extreme loyalty to their causes, Bothans were known to be a little xenophobic and power-hungry. With their innate eloquence and opportunistic nature, the species had worked its way into the heart of the relatively new government. Fey'lya had been the head of the movement, taking power at every opportunity, with no deed ever deemed unthinkable. Twice, Fey'lya had nearly destroyed the Mon Calmarian Admiral Ackbar's career, once by accusing Ackbar of embezzlement of war funds and the other by citing pilot error when Ackbar's B-wing crashed into a cathedral on the wind planet Vortex, by exploiting circumstantial evidence. Fortunately both incidents were proved to be attempts by the Empire to induce infighting in the Republic, but Fey'lya still held onto his power. In the last election for Chief of State, which was basically a renaming of the title of Chancellor, he won.

Luke and Leia stepped into the room. The red carpet and walls had not changed since Coruscant was captured by the New Republic, and the color seemed to accent the large window and desk at the end of the room, not to mention Fey'lya himself, who was dressed in a brownish Bothan suit that clashed with the rest of the room. He looked up from a datapad and smiled politely at the pair, his violet eyes focusing on them. "Ah, Jedi Skywalker, Councilor Solo. Come in. Have a seat." he greeted them, his voice carrying a plesant businesslike tone Luke knew Fey'lya had perfected over the years.

"Thank you, Chancellor Fey'lya." Luke said, using the old title. Fey'lya shifted a little, then spoke once the two had been seated.

"I understand you wish to form a Council of Jedi to help fully restore the order to its former position beside the Republic. A very worthy goal. However, I would wish to know the manner in which the Council would serve the Republic, and the terms of that relationship."

"Of course." Luke prepared to recite his newly memorized speech for just such a question. Suddenly, the Holonet transceiver on the desk warbled slightly, and sound played forth from the speakers.

"Leader of the New Republic, I transmit this message under grave circumstances."

Luke's eyes widened as he felt a premonition of sorts. In the back of his mind, he had made the connection. He felt that somehow, this person, whoever it was, was what he had felt through the Force on Yavin, over three months ago. He listened intently as the transmission wore on.

"What is the meaning of this?" Fey'lya exclaimed, his cream-corlored fur rippling in surprise as he engaged his intercom. "This is Fey'lya. Who authorized this message? I'm in the middle of a meeting."

"I don't know, sir." the secretary replied in a confused and slightly worried tone. "The signal was routed directly to your desk. It must've used your transceiver's precise frequency."

"How?" Fey'lya muttered. "Who could know my personal frequency?"

"Listen." Leia urged, captivated by the message. It continued, and the voice seemed to be male.

"The Empire is trying to claim the base through force, and they will launch an attack in no less than a few hours. They know the base contains weaponry and other things that could help the Imperial cause. They are being led by a Sith named Darth Malak."

At that Luke and Leia exchanged worried glances. A Sith on the loose? That could only mean trouble. The message played on.

"I, along with the locals of the planet, are the only things standing in their way, although alone we will surely perish. I ask for any assistance you can offer. Help us, leaders of the New Republic-your efforts will not be forgotten." The transmission crackled, then ended.

"Who was that?" Fey'lya wondered aloud, utterly baffled at the sudden plea.

"Someone named Markus Silverman." Leia answered, already out of her seat. " We have to trace that signal-"

"We're not doing anything yet." Fey'lya said, and suddenly the attention was on him. "We have no idea what this could mean."

"We have every idea what it could mean." Luke shot back. "This was obviously a call for help, and I guarantee it's from someone important if they knew your desk frequency. He said something about a Sith, as well, and the Sith mean nothing but trouble. We are obliged to help whoever this is."

Fey'lya paused to consider Luke's suggestion. He had a point. This person had gotten a message into his very office, breaking through any communications subroutines in its way. It had to be important. And a base full of weaponry added to some neo-Imperial organization on his watch would no doubt damage his popularity once news got out. And the Sith-they were certainly dangerous to him. After all, they had brought down the Old Republic. Whose to say a new one couldn't destroy him, as well?

"Very well." he conceded. "I'll call an emergency meeting of the Council. Until then, we should work on tracing that signal." He stood and walked out of the room to his secretary's office, Skywalker and Organa Solo right behind him.

In half an hour, the Council was seated in its chamber, with Leia Organa Solo among them. The Council was an organization designed to make decisions that were too urgent for the Senate. Han Solo and Chewbacca, along with Luke and R2-D2 and C-3PO, also were among the group assembled. Fey'lya sat at the head of the table, and began as soon as everyone arrived.

"Less than thirty minutes ago, we received a distress signal from an unknown person, who described an immanent attack on his world by the Empire, who apparently were trying to gain access to an Old Republic base stationed on the planet. They are also reportedly being led by a Sith named Darth Malak, and the signal originated from a system in the Unknown Regions, on the third planet."

"Well, what're we waiting for?" Han said, his expression clearly confused. "They're obviously in some kind of trouble and need our help. Why don't we give it to them?"

"I agree with General Solo." Alderranian Cal Omas added. "We should be doing something instead of sitting around here." Others nodded in agreement, as if it was just common sense.

Fey'lya stiffened slightly. He hadn't expected such a unanimous reaction from everyone. He regained his composure. "I assume we are all agreed?" Every council member reiterated their previous sentiments. "Very well." Fey'lya conceded, knowing he couldn't back out now, not with the Empire being as weak as it was now. "There is the matter of sending a combat ship to the system, as well as negotiators to handle anything that should come up."

"That new Nebula-class Star Destroyer's in orbit." Han offered. "I think it's called the Abolisher. Your cousin, Admiral Kre'fey, is in command at the moment. It doesn't have its full compliment of starfighters, but I hear Rogue squadron is assigned to it. They can handle just about anything. As for negotiators, I'll go."

"Me and Luke will, too." Leia chimed in.

"R2 and I as well." C-3PO added.

Fey'lya was about to give the order to allow this new mission to proceed, when something at the back of his mind made him think of something. It seemed absurd at first, but somehow it made sense. "I will go, as well." he announced.

"Are you sure, Chancellor Fey'lya?" Leia asked, slightly stunned at the Bothan's uncharacteristic action.

"Yes. I've been meaning to get away from Coruscant for a few days." He turned his attention back to the Council. "Than it's settled. I will inform the Abolisher to leave spacedock within the hour. Council dismissed."


	14. Boarding the Star Destroyer

The _Ebon Hawk _blasted after its target, intent on the starfighter's destruction. It swung through the wide sandstone canyon, careful to avoid rock bridges and outcroppings that led into large, dark caves. The TIE screamed through the canyon, weaving around jagged bends and doing its very best to evade its pursuer, which was not far behind. Markus had retaken his position at the helm, and so far had been successful in his maneuvers to track the Interceptor.

"What are these fighters, anyway?" Scorch asked from the copilot's seat, still a little confused at the thought of the Empire that rose out of the ashes of the Clone Wars.

"They're Twin Ion Engine starfighters, or TIEs. They've been the Imperial mainstay for decades. No shields, but very maneuverable-a disposable ship for disposable pilots." Markus replied, his gaze fixed on the interceptor that was slowly pulling away. Scorch scowled at that, imagining the clones who weren't in the Great Valley base being destroyed by the dozens in the flimsy fighters.

"It's a short-range ship." Boss commented. "It couldn't have gone far."

"Exactly." Markus said. "That means their carrier must be around here somewhere. All we have to do is avoid detection for a while, then see what we can do about them."

During these discussions, the gang had been looking out the windows, captivated by their flight. "We're so high up!" Ali exclaimed, gazing down at the canyon floor a mile below them.

"And we go so fast!" Petrie added. "Me never see anything this fast!"

"It's incredible!" Littlefoot chimed in, summing up what they were all feeling. "Hey, do you think we'll be doing this more often, now that the base thing is out in the Valley?"

"Who knows?" Cera answered. "First we have to survive this whole thing!"

"He's almost in range." Sev announced, drawing attention back to the TIE. The interceptor banked wildly around a corner. The _Hawk _rounded it at full speed, intent on claiming its prey.

The sight of a huge off-white Imperial Star Destroyer filling the entire width of the canyon greeted them, which was suspended nearly half a mile in the air above the bottom of the canyon by a docking apparatus strapped to the canyon wall, it's gun-bristled surface the very image of the once-powerful Galatic Empire.

"PULL UP!!" Everyone in Delta Squad shouted. Shouts and screams erupted at the sight of the overwhelming enemy ship. Markus instinctively yanked up on the controls, sending the ship spinning out of the way of the massive ship and right into a large cave in the canyon wall. More shouts were heard as the G-forces threw everyone around the cabin. Only Markus' spastic motions and quick thinking allowed the emergency repulsorjets to activate, immediately slowing the ship to a halt before it could collide with the rock wall at the end of the cavern. The landing gear extended automatically, and the ship lowered itself into a slightly rocky landing.

Everyone was silent for a moment afterwards, amazed both at the abrupt stop and the fact they were still alive. Markus glanced around, a smile slowly beginning to form on his face. "Well," he said, breaking the silence. "that was fun, wasn't it?"

Commander Drunstead walked across the _Broadsword's _bridge to his sensor lieutenant, who had called him over with something that supposedly couldn't wait. He sighed as he reached the lieutenant's station. "What is it?" he said, impatient with his crew bothering him with every little thing that seemed out of place.

"Sir, I just saw it! Something was trailing Iota 1 in the canyon! It's not on sensors anymore, but it was just there!" He pointed to the screen furtively.

The commander was about to reply when the officer started again. "Sir, report coming in from Iota 1! He says that an unidentified ship launched from the target area, and engaged his squadron. He is the only survivor."

Drunstead frowned. Perhaps there really was someone out there, and that good-for-nothing bounty hunter had failed to do his job. "Keep me posted." he ordered, stepping back towards the triangular windows of the forward area of the bridge, pondering just what could have happened.

For the next few minutes, the gang and Delta Squad rushed around the cockpit, trying to find out if the Imperials had seen them, if repairs were needed, and what they would do next. "Okay," Markus said, forming a plan as he spoke, "we know they didn't see us, so we're safe for now. The ship is pretty much undamaged, but with that Star Destroyer there, it'll be next to impossible to back out without getting blown out of the sky or captured. The good part is that we found the Imperial force that was supposed to be here, and we have a valuable opportunity."

"An opportunity to get killed?" Cera said sarcastically.

"No, to get intelligence. If we can tap into their comm frequencies, we can eavesdrop and discover what they're planning to do, what kind of weapons they have, that sort of thing."

"And then we can know what they're going to do before they do it!" said Littlefoot, catching on.

"We'll need some disguises to get in." Scorch added. "Not to mention a way out of there."

"One step at a time." Markus replied. "If the Imperials are already sending out TIE patrols, they probably have stormtrooper patrols as well."

"What-troopers?" Sev wondered aloud, shifting in his seat. The rest of Delta Squad echoed his query, as they had never heard of the successors to the clone army. Markus quickly answered.

"Stormtroopers are the main soldiers of the Empire. They wear armor similar to your own, but less advanced and cheaper to produce. They used to be made up of all clones, but since civilian applications were accepted, the clones have lost the majority. The civilian recruits, being far less intensively trained than a standard clone, have subsequently also downgraded the quality of the fighting force. And since the Empire as of now is mostly a terrorist rebellion consisting of mostly a few sectors, the ship is no doubt undercrewed and fraught with inexperienced officers."

Boss shook his head, then looked back at Markus. "Damn. I suppose we were right to go with you. Sounds like these guys could pretty much die on their own, with a little time. But, since we don't have that, I suppose taking them down won't be too much of a problem."

"Let's get working." Scorch added. "I'm dying to nail these guys. It's bad enough that they manipulated the galaxy into an evil Empire, but nearly killing Sev? No one kills my pod brother."

"What about getting outta here?" Shorty said, bringing up a new point. "I'm pretty sure we can't just pull out of here without anything happening. Besides, what's going to happen if they discover us on the Star Destroyer? I don't think they'd just let us in."

"That ship looked an awful lot like an _Imperator_- class Star Destroyer." Fixer noted, his voice coming in through his helmet comlink. "Is it some kind of offshoot of that line?"

"You are correct, commando." HK stated. "The Imperator design was renamed the _Imperial_-class after the formation of the Empire."

"Good. There is a way we can get out of here without getting shot down or captured, but it's gonna be tricky."

"Let's hear it." Boss said, his glowing blue T-visor on his helmet pointing straight at Fixer.

"Do we have a schematic of the ship?" Fixer asked. R3 warbled and rolled forward. His holographic projector glowed blue, and a scaled down 3-D cutaway image of a Star Destroyer formed in midair.

"OK, our primary mission is intelligence, right? If we can get to on of these control rooms, we can probably download everything we need." He had R3 zoom in on the port side and gestured to several highlighted rooms on a middle deck.

"Now, an interesting note about this design about one of these ships is the power systems." he continued. "While the explosives the squad carries wouldn't be enough to knock the primary generator offline, we could knock out one of the subsidiary generators." The image scrolled down to the bow, and a spherical object was identified as the subsidiary generator.

"Conveniently enough, this generator," he pointed to the one on the left. "handles both the main weapons and tractor beams. I figure if we can get in there and place some remote charges, we can get away before they reroute power."

"Cool." Markus said approvingly. "Sounds like we've got this all mapped out."

"Great, explosives!" Scorch commented. "You can never have enough things that go bang."

"We need disguises." Sev chimed in. "I don't even think I could kill all these guys."

"We'll have to get them off a stormtrooper patrol." said Markus. "We should start scanning for them up top."

"What about us?" the dinosaurs asked in unison.

"We can't just stay here!" Cera said, already a little angry at the thought of being left out.

"We can't disguise ourselves, though." Littlefoot realized. Markus and the commandos glanced at each other for a moment, then Markus got a small grin.

"Oh, you guys have a special part to play." Markus said.

"You'll be captive natives to be tortured for information." Scorch finished. The gang's eyes bulged out a little at the word torture.

"This is not going to be good..." Ali muttered.

"There one problem." Petrie spoke up. "Me don't think we can get back here without getting caught, or worse. And if we leave different way, what happens to the ship?"

"He's right." Markus said. "We shouldn't just leave the ship here."

"That's easy." Fixer answered. "We'll just use a slave-rig system and take this thing out of here right when we leave."

"A what?" Ducky asked, perplexed at the technical jargon.

"Slave-rigs are devices that let a person remotely control a ship." Fixer answered. "In this case, I'll probably route the control system both to our helmet systems and your datapad." he said, pointing at Markus. "that way, if one of us is-"

"-Put out of commision," Markus interrupted, fearing that the mention of the very real possibility of someone dying on this mission would send at least one of the dinosaurs, particularly Petrie, into a panic attack. "then one of us can still enact the plan."

"We should probably start using the sensors on this thing to begin scanning for the nearest squad of these stormtroopers. What we should really be thinking about is how were going to kill them without damaging their armor." Sev cradled his DC-17m blaster fondly. "I suppose we could leave our gear in here, but I'd like to carry whatever I can without alerting anyone."

"Good idea." Markus agreed. "I should probably find some way to conceal my lightsaber, just in case. Since we're more than a little short on tme, I suggest we split up. Me, HK, and R3 will head to one of those control rooms and download what we can, hopefully some intelligence data and private comm frequencies. Delta Squad and everyone else will work to plant the charges on the generator. Once were finished, we'll meet in this junction." He pointed at said junction on the holomap, indicating its location.

"I want to go with you." Littlefoot said immediatly. Markus was now his brother, and he couldn't just leave him, not when the task was this dangerous.

"Yeah, me too." Shorty added, as he was Markus' brother as well.

"No guys." Markus replied, his look of grim determination plain on his face. "My mission requires I do it alone, with as little help as possible. Once things heat up they'll know we're there, and I can't have you die in the crossfire. I've done this sort of thing before. Stay with Delta Squad."

"He's right." Scorch added. "You'll be safer with us, especially since we have more people with guns in our group. Besides, we could use some help carrying those explosives. Leave it to the Grand Army of the Republic to make the heaviest proton charges in the galaxy. If anyone asks, we'll tell them that you were carrying spare tools and we've decided to drop by the generator workstations to see if they need another hydrospanner."

"Sounds like a plan." Boss said. "When do we start?"

"As soon as we locate an isolated five-man stormtrooper patrol." Markus answered.

"Humans..." Cera muttered. "You're all insane."

"Chronically." Markus replied wryly. "Come on, guys. Let's do this thing."

For the next few minutes, Markus and Delta Squad got to work on the sensors, searching for a suitable target. They knew they could climb up the narrow ledges to the top of their side of the canyon, and that the had plenty of places to stage an ambush seeing how the terrain up above was so rocky and filled with numerous smaller spires and plateaus. They sat in the cockpit, each working diligently at his own task.

Fixer was busy setting up the slave-rig system in the clone's helmet's and Markus' datapad. Sev was looking over the equipment, deciding which items they could take without being noticed. He had begun disguising several DC-15m clone pistols, a grey, deadly-looking handgun with a glowing blue power cell, as fuisoncutters to be worn on a standard toolbelt. He had come up with a particularly clever plan to disguise Markus' lightsaber, which involved him removing all the components out of a hydrospanner and concealing the hilt inside the empty shell.

Boss and Markus were busy setting up the sensor system on the _Hawk,_ and Scorch was showing the quadruped dinosaurs how to put on the backpacks of explosives and other equipment that Markus and the clones had. Littlefoot, Spike, Cera , Ali and Shorty all had one, and were in the process of putting them on. "Are you sure this is safe?" Ali asked nevously as she slipped on the pack like she was shown.

"Don't worry." Scorch replied, tightening the straps on each pack. "These explosives won't go off until we want them to. As for this mission, it does seem insane, but so do a lot of things I've seen in the past few hours. Just act afraid and defeated and you'll do fine."

Ducky and Petrie, meanwhile, felt a bit left out, seeing that everyone else was already busy. Boss, seeing this, went over to them from his station and crouched down to meet them at eye level. "You guys seem a bit alone over here. I could teach you something you could do on the mission, if you want."

Ducky's eyes lit up at the prospect. "Yes, yes, yes!" she exclaimed. "We will do whatever we can!"

"What you need us to do?" Petrie asked curiously, wondering what he and Ducky could accomplish. Boss smiled slightly from behind his helmet and reached into the pack on Cera's back. He pulled out two of the DC-15m pistols, holding one in each hand.

"Know how to use one of these?" he asked. The two both shook their heads. Boss handed one to each of them and continued. "I know you probably don't have much experience with blasters, or weapons of any kind, but if we're caught in a firefight I need everyone who can hold a gun to use it. How do they feel?"

Ducky, holding the pistol with both of her small hands, replied, "It is a little heavy for me, but I think I can hold it."

Petrie hefted his up as well, glancing at the glowing blue power cell. "Me can do it. But why us? We not fighters."

"Yes," Ducky added. "I do not like to fight, no, no, no. And with these, we have to _kill _people just to use them. I do not like the thought of killing. It seems so...wrong." She looked at the clone commando, wondering how he and the other humans she'd met could do it so easily. True, she had killed in the gun turret fighting those TIE fighters, but this was so personal, so much more...aggressive.

Boss sighed through his voice comlink. "Look, I know it's not easy for any of you to just take up arms and attack people, but this is bigger than you or me. Your peaceful Valley will be annihilated if this Empire wins this, and the rest of my brothers forced to serve a corrupt, doomed regime. And we need everyone who can fight fighting with us. You may kill out here, but just remember that you only do it to save more than you destroy. Now, I need to know this: if I need you to shoot someone to keep this squad and your friends alive, can you do it?"

The two did not even hesitate. "Yes." they both said simultaneously. "We do whatever it takes." Petrie proclaimed, puffing his chest out in an attempt at bravery. Ducky laughed lightly at the Pteranodon's antics.

"Thanks." Boss pointed to a switch on the side of Petrie's gun. "This is the safety switch. You have to press it in in order to fire, which you do by pulling the trigger. It auto-recharges so you don't need to worry about reloads. Just aim and fire. The gun recoils a little when you shoot, and it's a bit loud, so watch out. We'll keep two in each pack so you can reach them quickly." Boss placed their pistols back in the backpack and stood back up.

"Hey, I got our target!" Markus suddenly shouted from the cockpit. Everyone rushed through the hallway towards him. He motioned at the five static-filled green silhouettes on the sensor screen. "I got this reading through the rock ceiling above us. These five are right in between a group of rock outcroppings, and are out of sight of any other patrol. The cliff to the left of the cave were in has a diagonal ledge that runs up to the top, just 10 meters from where those guys are."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Sev said energetically. "Let's go up and get them!"

"What about a plan?" Littlefoot said, confused at the speed things were progressing.

"Relax, I already thought up ten different ways I can do this. Just keep out of sight and stay silent."

Markus and the squad snuck up the ledge and behind a nearby rock, the gang staying below the cliff so no undue attention was drawn to the clones. The stormtroopers were indeed only a few meters away, standing on the other side of a knife-like rock that wedged out from the ground. Markus couldn't make out much of what they were saying, but he caught one complainant, something about what a worthless job his was. The troopers continued to talk amongst themselves as Sev made a few hand motions to the squad. They nodded silently and crept to the rock with the troopers behind it, all sound muted by their armor. Markus followed stealthily, having already been trained in the arts of stealth combat by his former professor back on Earth in his universe.

Once they were on the other side of the rock, they stopped, and the group crouched silently for a long moment, listening to the Imperials' small talk. Then, Scorch made five pointing motions at different places on the rock, and Markus recognized the signal and realized that at every place he pointed at, there was a trooper on the other side. They all nodded silently, and Boss held up three fingers. One went down for every second, and at zero, they all burst out and around the boulder.

The troopers were caught completely by surprise. Markus, being on the left-most side, slid around and, while the trooper's back was still turned, grabbed the stormtrooper helmet off his head, whipped out his lightsaber and in one swift stoke, cut the soldier's head off. Delta Squad acted in unison. They rushed their targets, pinned them to the wall and, using the small vibro-knife embedded in their wrist gauntlets, quickly slit the throats of the surprised men. Not one even managed a sound.

Littlefoot and the gang stayed crouched below the top of the canyon, the packs still strapped to the quadrupeds' backs. They stood on a small, narrow ledge, below which a mile-long drop waited. They had been there for only a few minutes, but with not a single sound emanating from above, they began to worry. "What's taking so long?" Cera muttered.

Before anyone could answer, a clattering sound was heard. Everyone flinched at the sound. The clattering continued for a moment, stopped, then became more rythmic. Littlefoot was about to peek his head up to get a look, when just a few meters down the canyon wall, no less than five human bodies suddenly flew off and began their long fall, a head closely trailing them. Everyone gasped at the sudden display, and Ducky had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from being heard.

The rhythmic clattering still continued, but instead of an enemy, Markus and Delta Squad appeared, jumping down onto the ledge, each one dragging a stormtrooper's body armor and helmet. "We got 'em." Markus confirmed. "We're going down to change into these in the ship. We'll stow our commando suits there, too."

"Did you guys just see that?" Shorty said, gesturing to the area where the bodies were thrown from.

"That was us, kid." Sev replied. "Had to put them somewhere. Don't worry, it was a pretty clean kill. No one even got blood on these white jobs."

After a few minutes, Markus and the commandos returned along with the droids, who had stayed in the ship up until then, each sporting the white and black stormtrooper armor and blasters. Markus spoke first, his voice muffled by the foreboding helmet. \ "Alright, let's stick with the plan. We head to one of the starbord access points on that docked Star Destroyer. I go and download their intellegence data and comm frequencies, and you guys go and plant those charges on that generator. We'll meet up at Hangar Entrance 5."

"Let's do it!" Littlefoot cried. Everyone echoed him, the excitement of their mission let loose for a moment.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Cera sighed.

They walked across the rocky terrain, with Markus and the clones surrounding the small dinosaurs, who were doing their best to look afraid. Silently, though, they let the nature of their rebellion run wild inside their minds, the knowledge of why they fought resounding in their brains. After a short walk, they reached the starboard side of the docked Star Destroyer, the metallic construct hanging in the air like an off-white thunderhead. The very midsection of the ship was perched on the cliff, with narrow docking bridges allowing transit. Strangely, no troopers were reporting back, and the area was oddly silent, with the clones and Markus not hearing any comm traffic from other Imperials. They clanked across the bridge in single file, Markus leading, and Scorch bringing up the rear, doing his best to play his part. They reached a large door at the end of the bridge that led into an airlock, which in turn led into a hallway on one of the middle decks of the ship.

They stepped through the airlock, and were greeted by the sight of the gunmetal-gray halls, as well as four stormtroopers and a menacing-looking officer, the only people in that particular hall, who stood in front of the door, obviously head of an inspection team, the whole lot of them glaring at the group. When he saw the dinosaurs and the droids being led in, he scowled and said icily, "Where are you taking these...things?"

Markus saw the officer through his helmet visor and replied in his most military and official-sounding voice. "These are some of the natives we were informed of by Boba Fett. There were found gathering tools, most likely for any heavy vehicles they have. We're about to take them to Lord Malak for...questioning. We also found these two droids in the canyon." He gestured to HK and R3. "We're not exactly sure why they are here, but we're preparing to take them down to maintenance.

"Really?" the officer said, unconvinced. He looked at HK accusingly.

HK twitched his head and said in a meek voice, "Just a simple protocol droid here, sir. Nothing new." R3 warbled slightly, as if to confirm the statement.

The officer still eyed the group suspiciously. "Why wasn't I notified?"

Markus rolled his eyes under the helmet. This was _too _easy. "Lord Malak is a Sith." he replied, meeting the annoyed tone of the officer's with a slight amount of insolence. "What he commands is what we do."

The officer glanced down at the dinosaurs, then back at Markus. "As do we all." He stepped aside. "Carry on, trooper."

"Thank you, sir." Markus replied, motioning for the others to follow. They went down a few hallways, then, when no one was around, Markus turned back to them, removing his helmet for a moment. "This is it. You guys head left. The nearest computer room is right."

"Let's get to it, then." HK said. "I can't wait until the shooting starts." R3 whistled.

"Good luck." Boss said.

"And to you." Markus said. He and the droids turned to leave, when Littlefoot called out, "Markus!"

Markus turned around. "Yeah?"

"I..." Littlefoot said, searching for the right words. "May the Force be with you." he finally said, unable to come up with anything better.

Markus smiled. "Thanks. I'm gonna need it." He replaced his helmet, hefted his blaster, and in a few steps he and the droids turned the corner and were out of sight.

"There he goes." Ducky said, a little forlornly. Spike gave out a solemn-sounding grunt.

"I hope he'll be alright." Ali said.

"Come on, guys." Boss interrupted "We got a job to do. This way."

"I can't see a thing in this helmet..." Scorch muttered. Boss ignored him. He gave one final command before entering the turbolift at the other end of the deserted hall.

"Delta Squad, lock and load! We're going in!"


	15. Escape!

Darth Malak's eyes snapped open suddenly, and he found himself gasping for air from lack of breathing. In his meditation in the Observation Lounge, he had seen something, a foreshadow of events. He saw the boy from the probe transmission, the one he had watched over and over again in an effort to ascertain his identity, the familiarity of his face stunning Malak from the first moment. It was younger, but it's features still remained. Malak, in a flash of certainty, had finally uncovered who he was. Malak finally recognized the power behind the lightsaber in the holovid, the soul behind the face. He had known that soul very well, a long time ago...

Malak's vision did not end there. The vision switched to the halls of the Star Destroyer. It wasn't so much a vision, but more of a snapshot. He saw the boy, dressed in a stormtrooper's garb, with a group of strange-looking creatures, four men also in stormtrooper armor, an astromech droid, and...

Malak's shock increased again as soon as he laid eyes on the bronze droid. _How could this be? _He wondered, astonished. He saw his master's assassin droid, the same one that had labeled him with the humiliating nickname of meatbag when he had insulted it, back nearly 4000 years prior when he and his Master, Darth Revan, had been forming the Sith army that would shake the Republic to it's core. How it was here was a mystery, but it made the situation all the more dangerous.

Malak slowly stood up from his cross-legged position in front of the large window showcasing the canyon, and for a moment he considered alerting the bridge immediately. Then, he decided that Thalus would find out about the intruders soon enough, and with any luck they would be eliminated. His only concern for now was the boy. He would track him down, and destroy him before he could even become a problem for his new Empire.

Malak stalked to the door, the sunlight from the window slowly receding from his pale skin and bald head. As he stepped out into the corridor, he had only one more thought before completing his plan. He would also find the droid, the one who mocked him from under the protection of his Master so many years ago, and would tear it apart piece by piece before melting it down for scrap.

Malak even allowed himself a microscopic smile as he stepped down the hallway, his red robes clashing with the dark gray bulkheads. _Today will be a day of vengeance, _he mused as he stepped around the corner, already planning his interception of his old foe.

Delta Squad emerged from the turbolift, stepping out in a square formation, their saurian "captives" in the middle of the formation. They marched through the gray, sterile halls wordlessly, pretending not to notice the curious stares of Imperial officers and other stormtroopers as they walked past. Technicians looked up from their consoles momentarily, but no one questioned their actions.

Which made their job that much easier.

During the procession to the subsidiary generator control room, where they would plant the bombs, the gang tried their best to look despaired and defeated. To further the ploy, the two who had hands, Ducky and Petrie, actually had handcuffs on, though they weren't locked and they could slip their hands out at an time. Occasionally, an officer, his greenish uniform proudly sporting his rank plaque and code cylinders, would sneer at what he probably considered "alien scum". Littlefoot hung his head meekly and continued, but in his mind he thought, _You guys are gonna get it. We're not going to let you take our Valley._

They finally arrived at the target. Inside, a large window provided a detailed look at the humming generator, which on the inside looking like a bottled thunderstorm. Computer consoles lined the rest of the walls, and four armed technicians sat at each one, pressing controls to regulate power distribution. In the middle of the room was a large circular console for the main technician, a blonde-haired woman, to sit at. Judging by the arrangement, it appeared that the woman was in command and her post was designed to oversee the other workers.

As they stepped through the sliding doors, the technicians glanced over in confusion, but said nothing as the group filed in. Only when the door slid shut behind the large group did the woman finally look up from her console and glare at them, her icy blue eyes contrasting with her lieutenant's uniform. "Sergeant," she said, identifying the rank dots painted on Boss' stormtrooper armor. "what the hell are these things doing in my control room? We've got a ruptured power conduit on Deck 9, Section 24, and my commander's getting very testy with me. If I don't get that fixed, there could be a coolant leak." She spoke in a caustic tone that Boss knew was designed to belittle him.

The dinosaurs shuffled as they were referred to as "things" again, but kept quiet. They all silently tensed, ready to duck if a shot was fired. "They were carrying tools, ma'am." Boss replied in a dull monotone, ignoring the woman's tone. "We were told you guys needed an extra hydrospanner."

"Really?" She said, thoroughly unconvinced. Delta Squad discreetly tensed up as well, tightening their grips on their E-11 blaster rifles. _She's on to us._ Boss thought to himself. _Here comes the shooting part..._

"I wasn't notified of any of this." The woman continued, oblivious to the intents of the soldiers before her. She stepped forward, stepping right up to Boss' helmeted face and glaring into his eyes. "I don't recall ever seeing you here before." she accused. "And don't tell me there's a lot of stormtroopers on this ship, I know it. Your voices don't sound right."

"Excuse me?" Boss said, feigning confusion. "What do our voices have to do with anything?"

"You sound like Fett clones." she sneered, her malicious expression becoming more and more pronounced on her face. "And I know that there are hardly any Fett clones left in the galaxy, and certainly none on this ship." Her hand began to grip her blaster handle.

"NOW!" Boss yelled. The squad moved as one, aiming their blasters and firing. Boss shot the lieutenant at point-blank range, throwing her across the room and blasting a burning hole in her chest. The rest of the squad blasted three of the four technicians before they could even make a move. The fourth managed to reach for his blaster, but a quick shot from Sev sent him falling to the ground. Unbeknown to them, a small holocam, disguised as a monitor, recorded the entire thing and sent it up to the bridge for analysis.

The moment passed as quickly as it had come. The dinosaurs, who had ducked at the sudden gunfire, slowly stood back up, paralyzed at the heedless attack. Shorty looked over at the blonde woman, who was spawled on the floor. "She's a girl." he whispered, a little mortified. When the rest of the group looked over at him, he quickly shook his head and hastily added, "I just didn't know the Empire used girls, too."

"All's fair in war, kid." Fixer replied. "Now come on, we got a job to do."

The dinosaurs rushed over to the computer consoles where Delta Squad was. "We'll plant the charges under the desks." Boss instructed, reaching into one of the packs and pulling out a set of proton grenades. "Without these computers to regulate the power flow, systems will overload and will have to be shut down. Use all of them, though. We want to do as much damage as possible."

The squad, with Ducky and Petrie's help, slipped every charge on the underside of the consoles in less than a minute, the magnetic seals gripping the frame. When they were done, the squad dragged the bodies over to a corner so they wouldn't be easily seen. "Finally." Cera said, slightly relieved. "Those charge things were really heavy."

"Objective accomplished. Nice work." Fixer commented after examining each charge.

"Alright everyone, lets get back into formation." Boss announced. The clones formed their square around the gang.

"What do we do now?" Ali asked before they left.

"We escape, of course!" Scorch replied, his voice muffled through his helmet. "We're just keeping up the charade so we don't get shot at, at least not until they uncover those bodies. Then they'll sound the alarm, and since there probably was some kind of bug in the room, they'll know what to look for."

"What do we do then?" Littlefoot questioned. He had an idea, but he wanted to here it from the clones.

Scorch looked over at him through the helmet. "We take off these stupid helmets, grab our guns, start shooting, and run like hell!"

"Oh." Littlefoot said, a little taken aback by the commando's crudeness but agreeing with the sense of his reasoning.

"Cut the chatter, guys." Boss said right before they reentered the hallway. They marched out and back down to the turbolift, the coming action making anxiety claw at their hearts.

Markus walked behind the droids as he walked through the hall, pretending to be escorting them to Mantinence. _Wherever the_ _hell_ _that is. _He thought to himself. In reality, he was nearly to one of the Star Destroyer's many computer access rooms, where he would download everything he could about the Empire in its current state.

He and the droids entered into a narrow doorway on the right side of the hallway. The room was small, partially due to the rows and rows of databanks lining one wall. Surprisingly, there were only two people in the room. A stormtrooper occupied one of the many consoles facing the other side of the room, while an unaromred officer stood over another, eagerly reading something on the screen. As Markus entered, he stepped away from the console and turned to face the fake stormtrooper, thoroughly unaware of the ruse.

"Trooper, what are you doing with those droids?" he inquired in a slightly bored tone.

The door slid shut behind Markus as he quickly thought up a reply. "I was, ah, ordered to take these droids here for reprogramming." he said hastily. "They were found outside in the canyon and will be put to work as soon as they're reprogrammed."

"I'm afraid you're in the wrong section." The officer glanced back at his screen in a somewhat anxious manner. _ I wonder what he's looking at. _Markus thought to himself. "Maintenance is 3 decks below this." The officer continued, oblivious. "You a new recruit?" he asked. The stormtrooper paid them no attention and continued typing.

"You could say that." Markus asked. R3 gave a low rising tone that conveyed the droid's agitation. HK shifted slightly and twitched his fingers. _I don't have time for this. _Markus thought. _The door's closed; if I kill them now no one will notice. _Markus then sighed and turned back to the stormtrooper, his malicious intent concealed by his stolen helmet and armor. "Actually, I was supposed to deliver something to you."

"What?" the officer inquired, perplexed. The stormtrooper shifted slightly in his seat, but did not move. Markus pretended to toy with his blaster rifle and casually answered,

"This."

He sprang to life and rapidly fired two shots into the unsuspecting officer, who fell to the floor with a surprised look pasted on his face. The stormtrooper in the corner, however, was not so unsuspecting. In less then a second, he whipped out a small, humming knife from a pouch on his belt and hurled it at Markus, who ducked just in time. The humming knife slammed into the wall, where it slowly began to cave it's way to the floor through the metal. The stormtrooper then reached for his blaster, but Markus was a fraction of a second too quick and blasted a deep hole in his chest. He sat in the chair, immobile.

Markus took off his helmet after a moment, sighed and said, "Well that was unexpected."

HK glanced over at the dead trooper, then reached over and pulled the humming knife out of the wall. "Indeed. He had incredibly high reflexes, for a human, and I don't believe I've ever heard of a stormtrooper equipped with a throwing vibroblade."

Markus walked over and dumped the dead man out of his chair, then sat down at the computer. "Here's why." he said, gesturing to the computer screen. "This guy wasn't an ordinary stormtrooper. He was with the ISB."

"The Imperial Security Bureau." HK read. "Apparently it functions as a secret intelligence organization in the Empire. I'm surprised they even still exist."

"Yeah, but this is a good thing." Markus replied. "Now we'll be able to access the more secret information without having to bypass too many security protocols. He left his account on." Markus leaned over to see what the officer's computer held. "This guy must be really paranoid." he mused. All that was on the screen was a comm frequency to a woman working in the Pilot Corps.

HK picked up the discarded blaster on the floor and said, "Well, we've got a job to do."

"Right." Markus turned to R3. "R3, plug into their network. Try to get anything that looks important."

R3 warbled an answer and rolled over to the databanks and plugged into a data outlet. After a few moments, he was able to bypass the security algorithms and enter the mainframe. He found the folder of current communications data in no time, and it took only a few seconds to download. He searched for more information eagerly.

Unknown to the group, a tiny bead holocam focused in on them, eagerly recording it's data. It sent it all to the bridge, where the officers in charge of surveillance would analyze it for anything suspicious.

"Hurry up, R3." Markus urged after a few more seconds. "We gotta go now!"

R3 warbled back and did one last search. After downloading the comm frequencies and fleet movements, he found one other folder of interest. It was marked "Galaxy Gun". Curious, R3 began the download. Seconds ticked by as the large file was copied into the droid's memory.

"OK, time to go." Markus urged. R3 sputtered at him. He only needed a few more seconds. Markus and HK stepped towards the door and were about ready to chastise the droid again when the download completed. R3 yanked himself away from the dataport and trundled away, seeming very pleased with himself. Whatever was in that folder, he felt it would be very important. Markus put his helmet back on, and the group stepped back out into the hall.

_Mission accomplished. _ Markus thought to himself. _That wasn't so hard, was it?_

Thalus stood before the triangular windows of the bridge. The past hour had not gone well. Already one of his starfighter squadrons had fallen victim to a mysterious ship that had taken off from the valley containing the facility. He silently cursed Boba Fett and whatever had caused him to lie to the Empire. Nevertheless, he vowed not to let the mysterious attacked deter him in his quest to rebuild the Empire.

The turbolift door at the rear of the bridge hissed open suddenly, and Darth Malak stalked into the bridge, seemingly alive with new fire. Since he had performed incredibly well in his first five months in the Imperial Remnant, the Force-blocking ysalamiri had been removed from some areas of the ship, allowing him to feel the Force anywhere he needed to. He felt it course through him, and it was all he could do not to unleash his fire on some unsuspecting crewman on the side.

Instead, he stood beside the Moff and inquired, "How goes the conquest of the facility?"

Thalus did not look at him as he replied, "Not well. Fett lied to us. Our reconnaissance TIE squadron was destroyed by an unknown force. Only one pilot remains alive."

Malak bristled. "I told you we should never have trusted him." Thalus remained unfazed at the bitter remark.

"No, I suppose not. But we will not let this stop us. We're preparing groud forces for deployment. They should be ready in three hours."

"Good." Malak replied. For a moment he thought about telling the Moff about the Jedi and the others who had infiltrated the Star Destroyer, but his thoughts were interrupted by an ensign hurrying over with a datapad.

"Sir!" he sputtered. "I-I...well, it's terribly bad news!" He eyed the Sith Lord at Thalus' side fearfully, cowering in his shadow.

"Well, hurry up ensign." Thalus admonished. "Out with it!"

"We have intruders on board!" He regained some of his composure and continued. "They disguised themselves as stormtroopers. We have the identification numbers from their armor."

Thalus rubbed his brow in exasperation, then turned to Malak. "Did you know of this?"

"I was about to inform you _quietly_." he replied icily, glaring back at the cowering ensign. "The boy from the probe transmission is still alive, and he and about a dozen others have infiltrated our ranks."

"I see." Thalus replied slowly. Malak fought the repulsive feeling in his throat. He wanted very much to tear the small man's throat out right then and there and take his place as the head of the Empire. A man like Thalus could never effectively lead an Empire. An Emperor needed passion, ambition,...the dark side.

"Sound the alert." Thalus told the ensign. "Inform all commands to shoot them on sight. The ground attack, meanwhile, will proceed as planned." The ensign scurried away to his station to busy himself with the task.

"That will not be enough." Malak said ominously. He strode for the turbolift.

"Where are you going?" Thalus called after him, surprised at the quick action taken by the Sith Lord.

"An old enemy needs defeating." the Sith shot back. The turbolift doors hissed shut, and Malak disappeared into the ship.

The squad and the gang continued the same way as before, and walked through at least a mile of hallway on their journey to the hangar deck. They were in an empty hallway just above the junction when the ship's announcement system came online.

"All personnel!" It blared. "Intruder alert! Stormtroopers TK-951, HI-975, HH-175, TT-884, and MS-029 are disguised enemy infiltrators! They are also accompanied by a group of unknown creatures and a pair of droids! Shoot them on sight!" Alarms began to sound all across the deck

The squad jumped at the loud announcement, then glanced at each other. "That's us." Scorch said with certainty. He threw his helmet to the floor. "No point in keeping that damned thing on." he muttered. The rest of the squad followed suit.

"Alright, guys, let's get the hell out of here!" Boss cried, hefting his blaster. The group broke into a run, rushing down the hallway madly.

"This is where the fun begins." Shorty said wryly. The rest of the dinosaurs just gave him worried looks. The group dashed to the end of the hallway and around the corner...straight into a group of stormtroopers!

"It's them!" the leader shouted. "Blast- ahhh!" The trooper was silenced by none other than Cera, who had not skidded to a stop like the others and instead charged into the leader before he could aim his blaster, knocking him to the ground and startling the rest of the soldiers. Boss fired two shots at the flailing soldiers, taking the attention off of Cera so she could escape and rejoin the group. Ducky and Petrie rushed over to Littlefoot's pack during the commotion and hauled out the two pistols hurriedly. They fished them out just as Sev yelled "This way!" and charged the other way down the hall, firing wildly to keep the now-recovered stormtroopers from following.

They ran charging through the halls, Delta Squad firing back at the stormtroopers behind them, who had begun to return fire. "Nice move back there!" Scorch said quickly to Cera before firing a few more shots down the hall.

"What now?" Cera shouted back over the blasterfire.

"We run to the meet-up point and hope Markus and those droids made it!" Scorch blasted another daring trooper who tried to get closer for a good shot. "Let's just hope we survive long enough to get there!" he added as they charged around another corner at a T-junction. At the end of that hallway, four strmtroopers stood in front of the lift, blasters ready. What made the group cry out in shock and jump back behind the corner was the huge tripod gun being manned by the fifth trooper. The E-web repeating blaster fired a deafening spay of bolts at them just as they slipped behind the corner, the scarlet bolts eating their way through the durasteel plating on the floor and walls.

"Damn!" Fixer cursed. "An E-web! Somebody blast that guy!". Delta Squad tried to lean around and get a claer shot at the gunner, but every time the stormtroopers or the E-web forced them back. "We're running out of time!" Fixer cursed as he saw the troopers from before (or what was left of them) emerge at the end of the hall and start shooting, causing everyone to duck and the squad to concentrate their fire on the stormtrooper squad behind them, allowing the other soldiers to slowly advance on them.

"We're pinned down!" Sev cried, firing another volley at the advancing troops. Ali ducked as a shot narrowly missed her head and shouted,

"We're dead!" Ducky and Petrie suddenly looked at each other with a clarity that can only exist when two like-minded people have the same idea. "Ready?" Ducky yelled over the blasterfire. Petrie nodded back.

"Ready when you are!" They both pressed in the safety switches Boss had shown them. "On three!" Petrie shouted. "One...two...three!"

The pair jumped out from behind the corner in one, fluid motion. The stormtroopers, who were expecting the much taller Delta Squad to fire back, were caught completely off guard, which gave Ducky and Petrie just enough time to each fire one shot. They both awkwardly pulled their triggers at the same time, recoiling as the two blue bolts shot out at the surprised stormtroopers. One caught the E-web trooper in the head, sending him sprawling towards the floor. The other bolt caught another trooper in the shoulder, and he collasped. The other soldiers shouted in surprise and fired back at the saurian pair, but the bolts met empty air as they jumped back behind the wall.

Seeing the oppotunity that the pair created with their attack, Boss and Scorch leaned out and fired two volleys, their bolts spraying out and hitting all three remaining troops. "Come on!" Boss shouted at the group. "Head for the lift!" They all ran down the short hall and crammed into the lift. The Imperials followed, but were just in time to see the door his shut as the lift lowered them down to the hangar junction where they would meet Markus.

_It's too quiet._ Markus thought as he walked down the hall towards the next junction. All he had to do was take another left and he would be at the rendezvous point. From there, all they had to do was run down to the hangar entrance and steal something to get away. His helmet was gone, having been discarded some time ago. The droids had already separated from him, as the stormtroopers on the previous deck had been relentlessly pursuing Markus as soon as the intruder alert was given, and the droids had taken a different route rather than get shot up by his pursuers. Markus' disguised lightsaber still hung on his belt, as did his datapad. He had learned early on the lightsaber was not effective against so man tightly concentrated enemies, as he wasn't very good at blocking the hailstorm of blaster bolts they fired at him. Surprisingly, he hadn't run into a single stormtrooper on this deck, but he didn't dwell on it too much. He rounded the corner and stopped dead in his tracks.

There, standing in the corridor, was a red-robed figure, his red-bladed lightsaber already ignited and humming. Markus felt a wave of dread as he recognized the figure as the ancient Sith Lord Darth Malak, the instigator of the Jedi Civil War. The Sith turned to him and said in a hissing, ominous voice, "So, we finally meet. I've been looking forward to dispatching you myself." He stepped forward.

Markus dropped his blaster and yanked his lightsaber out of it's disguise, igniting it and snapping it down to his side in a passive-aggressive stance, the blue blade illuminating his part of the hallway. "Darth Malak. I thought you'd be taller." He took a few more steps forward, until both were nearly ten feet apart, Darth Malak blocking his way to the Hangar Junction.

"There is much power in you." Malak suddenly sprang at Markus and snapped his saber up in a diagonal slash. Markus caught the blow on his blade in the nick of time, gasping at the ferocity of the attack but holding Malak at bay. Malak cackled slightly. "Impressive. Most impressive."

"You're not that bad yourself." Markus forced his blade back and attacked twice, Malak blocking both easily. Malak swept his saber in a broad sweep that Markus ducked under with little effort. He parried the counterattack Markus had attempted from his crouched position, the two now much closer in proximity.

"You have learned well." Malak observed. "But you fail to embrace the dark side." He swung again, forcing Markus back a little. "You hold yourself back. Not what I expected at all from someone like you, especially when given a second chance at life."

Markus, slightly confused at Malak's talk, swung his saber in a short attack combination and spun away, his saber grazing the wall. "You don't know me." he shot back.

Malak laughed, then charged in and pinned Markus to the wall, their sabers locked together. "I know you more than anyone else alive-even you!" Markus slipped out from under him and backed away slightly, still perplexed at the Sith's ramblings. _What was he talking about?_

Malak relented for a moment. _He must really not know who he is._ he thought. _He certainly isn't the man I knew._ Malak allowed the boy to attack him twice more, deflecting all attacks with ease. Their sabers locked again, crackling and sparking against each other.

Markus didn't understand any of it. _What is he talking about? And why can't I force him anywhere? I feel like...like he's..._toying _with me?!_

Malak cackled at the look of surprise on the youth's face. "Now you know how powerful I truly am." The saber lock continued, with Markus rapidly losing ground. Then, out of nowhere, the gang and Delta squad finally showed up, followed closely by the droids. They all looked absorbed by the lightsaber battle, unable to take their eyes off the combatants.

"Markus?" Littlefoot called out, in awe at the battle between the two.

_Thay survived! _Markus thought jubilantly. The feeling was twisted out of him as Malak glanced back and saw them.

"Ah, these must be you're allies." He turned back to Markus. "When I kill you, they'll be next." He cackled again, the laughter echoing through the hallway.

Markus suddenly felt something rise up in him. The feeling, the rage he felt at Malak, the Empire, the Sith, for trying to ruin the new life he had made for himself came to the surface. "NOOOOO!!" he cried out. In a surge of strength, he shoved back the surprised Malak and swung his blade in a wide arc, slicing up the Sith's lightsaber-and his jaw.

Malak fell to his knees, and a terrible scream pierced the air, emerging from his throat. The group at the end of the hall gasped in shock at the horrific sight, but they were unable to take their eyes from it. Markus stood, completely shell-shocked for a moment, until finally he dashed down the corridor, back to the gang.

"Markus-" Littlefoot began, but he was silenced as they started to run towards the now-visible hangar door.

"No time!" Markus gasped, his lightsaber still in hand. "Come on!" They ran down to the end of the hall, and quickly Markus slapped his hand on the control. Just as the door was slowly opening, another stormtrooper group emerged at the end of the hall, firing wildly. Markus could see two of them carrying the injured Malak off somewhere, but didn't stop to think about it as he reignited his saber to block the incoming bolts. The squad, Ducky and Petrie fired relentlessly at the incoming troops, but still they came. They rushed through the open door and fired a few parting shots before the door sealed shut. Markus ran his lightsaber along the middle of the blast door, wielding it shut.

They stood for a moment in the empty hangar, catching their breath, then looked around madly for a way off the Star Destroyer. Markus spied a small, sleek passenger airspeeder with a blaster turret on the top. "That's out ticket out of here!" he cried, and the group ran over and piled into it, Markus in the pilot's seat and Scorch in the gunner's.

Markus handed HK his datapad in order to set off the explosives at the reactor and remote-pilot the _Ebon Hawk _back to the Valley. He glanced at all the unfamiliar controls, and soon found the startup. The speeder rose up on it's repulsors, ready to go. "Sir," HK said suddenly. "they have erected a force-field across the hangar."

Markus instead turned the veichle back towards the door they came through, which was now turning red from the constant laserfire of the stormtroopers on the other side. "Well, only one way to go."

"You can't be serious!" Fixer said, aghast. The rest of the gang echoed his sentiment.

"Sir," HK added. "are you sure this is a wise course of action?"

"We're about to find out." Markus replied wryly. "Scorch, fire at the door, now!" The blaster turret fired two bolts into the door, and it imploded inward. The speeder lurched forward, directly into the halls. It scrapped against the wall and slammed into anyone in it's path. Markus turned a corner and saw only one door at the end of the hall-a dead end. Unless...

"Scorch!" He yelled as they neared the door. Scorch quickly squeezed off a volley of blasterfire that tore through the door.

The airspeeder crashed through a window, and soared into the open air. As soon as they were out, HK tapped a control on the datapad. An explosion ripped apart part of the Star Destroyer's superstructure, the subsidary generator destroyed. Another tap sent the _Ebon Hawk _hurtling out of the cave it was parked in and right behind them.

Shouts of triumph and joy filled the speeder as everyone saw the Star Destroyer unable to attack. They had escaped! Boss just grinned and said, "That wasn't too hard, was it?"

The airspeeder soared out of the canyon and back to the Vally, the _Hawk _right behind it.


	16. An Ending of Sorts

Yep, you've hit the end. You've survived the train wreck that was this story.

It's difficult to describe exactly how embarrassing coming back to something like this is. I scribbled this bastard down in eighth grade, an age when I naively believed a freakish knowledge of lore and a shitload of adjectives was enough. At best, I consider this a self-masturbatory exercise in writing.

Still, I suppose it might be of some use. _Library of the Damned _wrote a near-perfect series breaking down exactly where I went wrong, so others can still learn from my mistakes. I'd highly advise a read if you're a first-time fanfic author. Believe me, it could help you avoid a ton of issues that plagued my thirteen and fourteen-year old self.

So there it is, then. Nothing more is probably going to come from this account, as I've moved on to other usernames and other sites. I'd like to say I'm producing better content now, but if there's anything this experience taught me, it's that a load of good reviews mean nothing without reasoning and specificity.

-Jedi472


End file.
